Will Oceania follow Celebrity, Crystal and RCCL?

[cruisingxpert]

It appears several of the Cruise Lines have stopped waiting for CDC to open up sailing and are going to start Caribbean sailings.  I wonder if NCLH and

Oceania in particular will do anything similar?

 

https://www.crystalcruises.com/special-offers/bahamas-escapes

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/24600-celebrity-announces-june-caribbean-comeback-from-st-maarten.html

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/03/19/royal-caribbean-cruise-bahamas-june/

Edited March 20, 2021 by cruisingxpert

[mexicobob]

Would think all cruise lines would start sailing where they are able to sail no matter what the CDC says. I am looking to sail in the  Mediterrean with ports in Italy. Right now does not look likely that most countries in Europe will be accepting ships any time soon no matter what the CDC states since many are going into lockdown again. One day things will get better.

[pinotlover]

Oceania starts back 4th Qtr.

 

NCL could run similar cruises as those other lines are now advertising. To do so, they’d have to “ fess up” and cancel cruises going out for months so to plan and sell new cruises. This would require the return of a lot of deposits. Since they won’t “ fess up” about Alaskan cruises, I don’t see them moving in the direction of these new cruises.

[zoncom]

We were on  B-B-B Caribbean last March. Last cruise was cancelled. X tried to disembark at SJ. They would not let us into port so  ship went to FLL. Anyhow, it took Celebrity 4 MONTHS to refund our $$. So do not give them any  deposits unless you are positive ship will sail. We got our almost paid for 2021 WC deposits on Oceania back in 30 days.

[Noxequifans]

To pay the deposit or not to pay is the question.  No perfect answer.  

[SargassoPirate]

19 hours ago, Noxequifans said:

To pay the deposit or not to pay is the question.  No perfect answer.  

 

 

Right now, I'm looking at deposits as gambling.  Never gamble more than you can afford to lose. 

 

I have a small non-refundable deposit on a world cruise for 2022 with the final payment due in September.  If I don't like the way things are looking for cruises at that time, I'll pull the plug and cancel.  No way will I make final payment and hope for the best with refunds or FCCs.  I like my money in my pocket, not theirs.

 

I also have a backup plan with a fully refundable deposit on a 2023 world cruise.  If I pull the plug on 2022, I'll go with the 2023.

 

[Tranquility Base]

On the Celebrity forum there is a thread stating some of the important protocols for the St Maarten cruises starting in June.

[deadzone1003]

Oceania should be doing what other cruise lines are doing.  Just one ship for testing protocols and new procedures and equipment.  You have to walk before you could run.  To start the 4th quarter with all ships is asking for trouble.  

[njhorseman]

6 minutes ago, deadzone1003 said:

Oceania should be doing what other cruise lines are doing.  Just one ship for testing protocols and new procedures and equipment.  You have to walk before you could run.  To start the 4th quarter with all ships is asking for trouble.  

They're not planning to start with all ships. The plans have always been to start with one or two for each of the NCLH cruise lines and then gradually work their way to full deployment. It may take up to six months to deploy all ships.

This story is old, but in later interviews FDR has continued to say the restart will be gradual.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/05/14/coronavirus-norwegian-cruise-line-lays-out-plan-its-relaunch/5186314002/

[deadzone1003]

Not sure they can do a gradual restart with all of their ships in European or Alaskan itineraries over the summer and 1st half of fall.  First itinerary that you can start is, maybe, the Oct. 15 London to Miami aboard the Sirena.  All the other itineraries you may have to deal with  the CDC or the EU or Australia. 

Any suggestions as to what current itinerary to begin the restart?

[pinotlover]

Been discussed before.

 

1. Australia plans on having everyone vaccinated by August. Have stated they will start allowing vaccinated tourists after that. It is currently expected that the Regatta can hit most of its stops along the way to that circumnavigation of Australia. NZ is likewise making very good process. 4th Qtr.

 

2. Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and UAE are all progressing with

vaccinations. Nautica 4th Qtr.

 

3. Except for Brazil, South America is making a strong move in the right direction. Marina 4th Qtr. Brazil cruises might be skipped.

 

The rest of O’s fleet, probably 2022.

 

From reports, a mini war is breaking out in the EU. Several of the Southern Med countries are wanting to open for vaccinated tourists this summer. France and Germany are wanting to keep the entire Schengen closed down. A decision is expected soon.

[njhorseman]

58 minutes ago, deadzone1003 said:

Not sure they can do a gradual restart with all of their ships in European or Alaskan itineraries over the summer and 1st half of fall.  First itinerary that you can start is, maybe, the Oct. 15 London to Miami aboard the Sirena.  All the other itineraries you may have to deal with  the CDC or the EU or Australia. 

Any suggestions as to what current itinerary to begin the restart?

How does a cruise from London to Miami avoid dealing with the CDC? Any cruise starting, ending or making a port call in the US has to comply with CDC guidelines.

Since there has been limited cruising in Europe for some time now why would a European itinerary be automatically be out of the question?

[Beagle5]

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Been discussed before.

 

1. Australia plans on having everyone vaccinated by August. Have stated they will start allowing vaccinated tourists after that. It is currently expected that the Regatta can hit most of its stops along the way to that circumnavigation of Australia. NZ is likewise making very good process. 4th Qtr.

 

Not even close, I'm afraid.

Government hope now is that any Australian who wants a vaccine will have their first dose by end of October. Because the vast majority will be getting AstraZenica, and the new advice is that there should be a 12 week delay between doses, vaccination is likely to stretch into early 2022.

(Even those dates look unlikely as we are already well behind schedule)

No date has been given for when vaccinated tourists will be allowed entry.  Still a lot of worry about how AZ may perform against the variants and the non cruising Australian population is now highly risk averse.

 

Having said that, I hope O send Regatta down at the end of the year with a fully vaccinated crew. I am sure they could fill it with frustrated Australians wanting to cash in their FCC and just do domestic Australian cruises. (Just idle speculation on my part. The Oz Government has not given any signal of when even domestic cruising can resume...)

 

 

[pinotlover]

Beagle5;

 

Thank you very much for the update on how things are(not) progressing. It appears that things have deteriorated significantly since reports being put out in January.

 

It amazes me on how many Americans want to duplicate the government ran government owned healthcare systems of the more socialist governments. The US is going to start sharing vaccines with Mexico and Canada soon. Maybe the UK will start sharing with you in the Fall.

[clo]

3 hours ago, Beagle5 said:

Not even close, I'm afraid.

Government hope now is that any Australian who wants a vaccine will have their first dose by end of October. Because the vast majority will be getting AstraZenica, and the new advice is that there should be a 12 week delay between doses, vaccination is likely to stretch into early 2022.

(Even those dates look unlikely as we are already well behind schedule)

No date has been given for when vaccinated tourists will be allowed entry.  Still a lot of worry about how AZ may perform against the variants and the non cruising Australian population is now highly risk averse.

 

Having said that, I hope O send Regatta down at the end of the year with a fully vaccinated crew. I am sure they could fill it with frustrated Australians wanting to cash in their FCC and just do domestic Australian cruises. (Just idle speculation on my part. The Oz Government has not given any signal of when even domestic cruising can resume...)

 

 

I wonder if Australia et al would allow "tourists" but not cruise ship passengers.

[deadzone1003]

5 hours ago, njhorseman said:

How does a cruise from London to Miami avoid dealing with the CDC? Any cruise starting, ending or making a port call in the US has to comply with CDC guidelines.

Since there has been limited cruising in Europe for some time now why would a European itinerary be automatically be out of the question?

I'm just not optimistic that EU can get it's citizens all vaccinated by the end of summer.  UK may be able to by start of summer.   I hope I'm wrong. I just don't like the idea that my Nov. 11th, Bridgetown to Bridgetown cruise might be the re-start of Oceania cruising.  The London to Miami cruise might be the easiest to modifed - add two days at sea so it lands in Miami on Nov. 1st and shorten the Miami to Bridgetown cruise by two days.  I noticed that the Nautica cruises that are entirely within the EU, but American tourists might still be banned from the EU so can Oceania fill the the Nautica with European passengers so that it will be profitable or, at least, not a negative cash flow.  UK might be the only country where American tourists may enter by summer, but how many itineraries are wholly within the UK?

[njhorseman]

26 minutes ago, deadzone1003 said:

UK might be the only country where American tourists may enter by summer, but how many itineraries are wholly within the UK?

Without having any specific knowledge of UK cabotage laws my guess is that if they're like many if not most  others (including the USA) a wholly UK itinerary would be limited to UK-flagged ships. so Oceania would not be permitted to do those types of itineraries. Now if Ireland were to also open up that would solve the problem. There are some current Oceania itineraries that are solely UK and Ireland.

32 minutes ago, deadzone1003 said:

The London to Miami cruise might be the easiest to modifed - add two days at sea so it lands in Miami on Nov. 1st

I question whether the door will suddenly be wide open on Nov. 1 just because the current Conditional Sailing Order would be expiring. If you recall the prior No Sail Orders were extended several times and the Conditional Sailing Order could also be extended. Obviously at this time no one can say exactly what is or isn't going to be permitted that far down the road.

[Beagle5]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

The US is going to start sharing vaccines with Mexico and Canada soon. Maybe the UK will start sharing with you in the Fall.

The (private) Australian company CSL are making and distributing our own vaccines here as of this week. Just took a little time to get the formula right. The stuff we ordered from Europe is coming in dribs and drabs. The Italians blocked a shipment because 'Australia doesn't need it' which is kind of true. The Australian government has just directed the EU to divert the next 1 million of our ordered and paid for doses to Papua New Guinea as they need it urgently.

 

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

It amazes me on how many Americans want to duplicate the government ran government owned healthcare systems of the more socialist governments.

 

Mind boggling that this is where your mind went on reading my (entirely non political) post. It must be exhausting looking at every aspect of life through an ideological prism.

[Tranquility Base]

7 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Been discussed before.

 

1. Australia plans on having everyone vaccinated by August. Have stated they will start allowing vaccinated tourists after that. It is currently expected that the Regatta can hit most of its stops along the way to that circumnavigation of Australia. NZ is likewise making very good process. 4th Qtr.

 

 

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

Beagle5;

 

Thank you very much for the update on how things are(not) progressing. It appears that things have deteriorated significantly since reports being put out in January.

 

Australia gave the Pfizer conditional approval near the end of January.

They gave AstraZenaca conditional approval mid February.

 It is my understanding that this was an approval process not an emergency use authorisation.

This was due to less pressure to have to use an EUA due to very low case numbers, or lengthy periods of zero community cases. They had time to study results from overseas.

 

A similar approach was taken by  New Zealand.

They have ordered only the Pfizer vaccine for their own use, and they plan to vaccinate their population with only Pfizer.

 

The other vaccines they have on order will be supplied to at least 6 countries in the South Pacific.

Australia is doing similar regarding helping Papua New Guinea.

 

The slow rollout in these counties is mainly due to delivery schedules downunder.

 

 

[deadzone1003]

13 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Without having any specific knowledge of UK cabotage laws my guess is that if they're like many if not most  others (including the USA) a wholly UK itinerary would be limited to UK-flagged ships. so Oceania would not be permitted to do those types of itineraries. Now if Ireland were to also open up that would solve the problem. There are some current Oceania itineraries that are solely UK and Ireland.

I question whether the door will suddenly be wide open on Nov. 1 just because the current Conditional Sailing Order would be expiring. If you recall the prior No Sail Orders were extended several times and the Conditional Sailing Order could also be extended. Obviously at this time no one can say exactly what is or isn't going to be permitted that far down the road.

I think in June we would have an idea if vaccines are helping us reach herd immunity.  There is talk already of easing of travel restrictions between USA & UK, but that is if vaccine plans are succeeding.  Like I said, I can't see EU getting their people vaccinated by the end of summer.  If they don't do that, Ireland is unlikely to be available.

[PaulMCO]

Baby steps first.  Before a cruise line will get CDC approvals they will need to demonstrate that their plans work.

 

Riviera, Marina, Nautica, and Sirena are all berthed in Italy.  Zero chance of things loosening.

Regatta is in US and Insignia is in Aruba

 

Best guess is use a small ship like Insignia.   Caribbean cruise from the ABC islands would be a good test. Also gets Insignia ready for WC if it can be done.

 

Crystal has a good example, where they do testing before, while on board, and also preflight to get guests home.  Social distancing.  Mandated vaccine. 900 passengers or fewer. Also allowing guests to do own touring because Bahamas is relatively isolated and islands are small (under 1000 people).  This needs to be done and proven before cruising starts in a pandemic world. Going to be a  guinea pig in 17 July.

Edited March 22, 2021 by PaulMCO

[cruisingxpert]

4 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

 

 

Crystal has a good example, where they do testing before, while on board, and also preflight to get guests home.  Social distancing.  Mandated vaccine. 900 passengers or fewer. Also allowing guests to do own touring because Bahamas is relatively isolated and islands are small (under 1000 people).  This needs to be done and proven before cruising starts in a pandemic world. Going to be a  guinea pig in 17 July.

Hope it works because I booked the Oct 16th one. I just got my first vaccine shot and second isn't until July 11.  Canada is following Britain's lead to get as many people as possible a first shot.

[TrulyBlonde]

22 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

Baby steps first.  Before a cruise line will get CDC approvals they will need to demonstrate that their plans work.

 

Riviera, Marina, Nautica, and Sirena are all berthed in Italy.  Zero chance of things loosening.

Regatta is in US and Insignia is in Aruba

 

Best guess is use a small ship like Insignia.   Caribbean cruise from the ABC islands would be a good test. Also gets Insignia ready for WC if it can be done.

 

Crystal has a good example, where they do testing before, while on board, and also preflight to get guests home.  Social distancing.  Mandated vaccine. 900 passengers or fewer. Also allowing guests to do own touring because Bahamas is relatively isolated and islands are small (under 1000 people).  This needs to be done and proven before cruising starts in a pandemic world. Going to be a  guinea pig in 17 July.

Happy you are willing to be the Guinea Pig. My concern at this time (this could change) is that Crystal cannot guarantee that the Crew will be vaccinated. I would not  want my cruise impacted in the event someone was Covid positive. Too many variables at this stage that I would not be willing to risk. I sincerely hope it all goes well for you.

Edited March 22, 2021 by TrulyBlonde

[Tranquility Base]

23 hours ago, pinotlover said:

2. Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and UAE are all progressing with

vaccinations. Nautica 4th Qtr.

Jordan just registered the highest number of daily deaths since the start of the pandemic.

 

Despite authorising the use of 4 different vaccines, due to delivery problems they have only been able to provide a vaccine to 3% of their population.

 

They have had to reintroduce some lockdown restrictions due to an increase in variant cases. 

 

[pinotlover]

27 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

Jordan just registered the highest number of daily deaths since the start of the pandemic.

 

Despite authorising the use of 4 different vaccines, due to delivery problems they have only been able to provide a vaccine to 3% of their population.

 

They have had to reintroduce some lockdown restrictions due to an increase in variant cases. 

 

Things change so rapidly it’s hard to keep up with it all. Easier to just play golf with my buddies and not worry about it.

 

Come summer, when the US goes from vaccinating 1.5 million a day to 100K, a lot of vaccines will be freed up for someone.

 

About the only sign we’ll have is when Oceania starts staffing a ship and that 90 day window starts. If everything is still in cold storage come September/October  we’ll know we aren’t going anywhere for a long time. If that happens I’ll be canceling everything and getting all my deposits ( hopefully) back.