Caribbean cruises

[Roaming Rover]

Looking for 2022 Jan /Feb has anybody been on either of these cruises ??? Looking back to back !!! Exotic Explorer then Flavours of the Caribbean  or  Flavours of the Caribbean then Pride of Panama. Would appreciate any views and ideas ??? Which one is better than the other ?

[GOQ]

Yes I am going on that very cruise next January.

Exotic Explorer followed by Flavours of the Caribbean.

I have been on Exotic Explorer before, but visiting Honduras instead of Costa Maya.

Flavours of the Caribbean visits Cuba, which I am looking forward to.

[Cliffholl55]

We are booked on the Flavours and Pride in January. Looking forward to it and a return to the Caribbean .

[Britboys]

Would very much recommend an itinerary that includes Havana - especially if they still do the overnight call.

[Bertie Doe]

6 hours ago, GOQ said:

I have been on Exotic Explorer before, but visiting Honduras instead of Costa Maya.

Flavours of the Caribbean visits Cuba, which I am looking forward to.

We did some back-to-backs on Discovery 2 in Dec 2017, returning to Montego Bay at the end of each week. Highly enjoyable, the highlight for me was feeding the stingrays in Grand Cayman.

 

When in Havana, avoid those yellow tuk-tucks. Ours broke down and we had to walk in blistering heat 😅

[smithsheff]

We are doing Flavours of the Caribbean followed by Exotic Explorer in March, and personally can't wait, I would always choose this but that's because Cuba is in there. 

We have done the Panama one before, I wasn't keen on Columbia but that is just me. A trip through the canal is a long day but worth it, saying that the trip was 3 hours late getting back. 😁

 

[rodndonna]

Exotic Explorer for us in March 2022 😀

We were booked (pre Covid) on Pride of Panama, but rebooked to Exotic Explorer as we are now booked for Panama in Dec 2021 with HAL.

 

I would lean more to suggesting Pride of Panama over Exotic Explorer as you get the Panama Canal and a some South America. If the Canal is not something you are really not interested in, then Exotic Explorer.

 

Have been to the Canal over 20 years ago, but have never cruised it. I have been told it is quite an experience and looking forward to it in December.

 

Either way - both will have smoking hot weather! 😎

 

[Bertie Doe]

18 hours ago, rodndonna said:

Exotic Explorer for us in March 2022 😀

We were booked (pre Covid) on Pride of Panama, but rebooked to Exotic Explorer as we are now booked for Panama in Dec 2021 with HAL.

I see you'll be transiting the whole canal with HAL, that should be nice. When we were there on Discovery 2, we had to board a local boat and go through just 2 of the 6 locks and return. A full transit is on our bucket list.

[rodndonna]

1 hour ago, Bertie Doe said:

I see you'll be transiting the whole canal with HAL, that should be nice. When we were there on Discovery 2, we had to board a local boat and go through just 2 of the 6 locks and return. A full transit is on our bucket list.

 

Unfortunately not, full transit is not the itinerary we doing with HAL (Panama Sunfarer) (https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/C1F10A/D179.html )  It is similar to Marella - only partial transit to Gatun Lake. 

 

Full transit remains on our list! And then we have also been told it is different in each direction and worthwhile to do both- so apparently we need to have 'east to west' AND 'west to east' on the bucket list.  Phew!

[Bertie Doe]

31 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

Unfortunately not, full transit is not the itinerary we doing with HAL (Panama Sunfarer) (https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/C1F10A/D179.html )  It is similar to Marella - only partial transit to Gatun Lake. 

 

Ah right, i was looked at the January one by mistake :-

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/T2P14B/U208.html

 

[andypow65]

We are doing the back to back in Feb. Both are good but having an overnight in Cuba is special. The canal is interesting and have done full transit, but this canal day on the Pride of Panama week isn't the same and doesn't do much for me, and I do not fancy Colon. 

[edinburgher]

TRAVEL INSURANCE QUERY.

 

Hi after a lomg absence. We were lucky in that we had not started to book for 2020 when lockdown #1 came in March 2020 due to a passport needing renewal mid Feb 2020..

 

Although not yet ready to cruise or go on any land holidays this year, we were looking forward to browsing itinieraries for next year (and hopefully booking) until a friend told us at the weekend they had to change one they had booked due to not being able to get travel insce.

 

It appears that the FCO has never amended their "do not cruise" advisory from when it went on in March 2020 when cruise ships were hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons Until that is either amended or removed, it could be almost impossible to buy travel insce, as companies will not cover if against Government policy.

 

It has only (so far as I know,) been updated in relation to domestic UK cruises, with the International advisory still in place.

 

Our friends had been booked on one next month which included a couple of stops in Iceland,  but had to switch to a UK only sailing when they could not get travel insce anywhere.  They even tried two brokers, both of whom told them it could not be done due to the advisory, so at that point they switched itineraries.

 

As we are not willing to travel without cover, if anyone already  booked for 2022 managed to find insce, could you please share where  you found it?

 

Thank you.

Edited July 19, 2021 by edinburgher

[Bertie Doe]

5 hours ago, edinburgher said:

 

 

As we are not willing to travel without cover, if anyone already  booked for 2022 managed to find insce, could you please share where  you found it?

 

Thank you.

 https://www.moneysupermarket.com/travel-insurance/enquiry/ 

It's worth Registering' it remembers your details, should you want to use them in future years.

 

We plan to do a Caribbean cruise for 3 weeks in December '21. I've just done a dummy run, under "Sun Snow and Security" click "Cruise Cover". I clicked "Single trip cover". The cost for a couple with no medical problems is :-

£542 Post Office

£558 Leisure Guard

Younger folk will pay less (I'm 74 next birthday)

Paul

[Cliffholl55]

We too are booked for January Caribbean Cuba etc and have 15 month insurance. We are 65. With cruise worldwide cover. I really think it was a waste of money as we can’t see the cruises going ahead this winter anywhere, this will be a blow to the cruising industry and us sailors. As said b4 it a dilemma if to pay the balance when due and fight for refunds if paid.

[Riocca]

3 hours ago, Cliffholl55 said:

We too are booked for January Caribbean Cuba etc and have 15 month insurance. We are 65. With cruise worldwide cover. I really think it was a waste of money as we can’t see the cruises going ahead this winter anywhere, this will be a blow to the cruising industry and us sailors. As said b4 it a dilemma if to pay the balance when due and fight for refunds if paid.

Totally agree with half the ports on the red list and very little prospect of that changing any time soon it’s wrong that Marella still have these itineraries on sale.

[Bertie Doe]

31 minutes ago, Riocca said:

Totally agree with half the ports on the red list and very little prospect of that changing any time soon it’s wrong that Marella still have these itineraries on sale.

They need deposits and balances paid, to convince their bankers, there's lots of interest and the future's bright.

[edinburgher]

Thanks to all for your helpful replies. Really appreciated that you took the time to do that.

 

Hoping all goes well for you and that the international advisory is lifted before next year, as we still have a tiny concern that, were a claim to be made (and we have never yet made one) , insce companies may not pay out if we have travelled against a government advisory.

 

We had also wanted to book a couple of short land trips for next year in addition to a cruise or two, 

(having spent zero on holidays in 2020) but think we might hold back  on these too just  for another wee while until things are less muddled.

 

 For years we had insce through our bank account (and think we  can restart at some point) but we cancelled it back in September 2020  when it became obvious that we had been paying a monthly fee  for several months and there was still no indication of being able to travel for some time to come.  At the same time, we took out a separate breakdown cover policy as that too was part of the package.

 

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by edinburgher

[Pensioncruiser]

9 minutes ago, edinburgher said:

For years we had insce through our bank account (and think we  can restart at some point) but we cancelled it back in September 2020  when it became obvious that we had been paying a monthly fee  for several months and there was still no indication of being able to travel for some time to come.  At the same time, we took out a separate breakdown cover policy as that too was part of the package.

We did this with Nationwide, as did a few others on this site, and received a substantial refund but you have to ask. 😉 

[edinburgher]

Thanks for the tip although we hope we none of us find ourselves in a similar situation in the future.

We didn't think of that at the time, but should have. Only thing is for us, is that travel insce was only one of a few of the "package" contents and we had wanted the others for the period  from March to September when we cancelled.

Edited July 20, 2021 by edinburgher

[Riocca]

Have just read that Grand Cayman is closed to cruise ships until at least 2022. 
This has been known for many months but Marella are still selling itineraries that go there for November & December this year. 
We’ve still got almost 3 months until our balance is due but it’s becoming obvious that Explorer 2’s itineraries are not going to be viable. Would like to know what plans they have so we can make decisions ourselves.

[Bertie Doe]

19 hours ago, Riocca said:

Have just read that Grand Cayman is closed to cruise ships until at least 2022. 
This has been known for many months but Marella are still selling itineraries that go there for November & December this year. 
We’ve still got almost 3 months until our balance is due but it’s becoming obvious that Explorer 2’s itineraries are not going to be viable. Would like to know what plans they have so we can make decisions ourselves.

We've used our accumulated FCCs as deposit on 3 back-to-back Discovery cruises starting 5th Dec '21. I asked Marella "what happens if one of the passengers on your flight, tests pos at Bridgetown airport or cruise terminal. If the remaining pax are refused boarding, because they've been in contact with victim for 4 hours - do we get full refund, hotel and repatriation etc?" I did point out that no travel insurer covers this scenario. They replied they were a bit busy tied up with cancellation refunds until 17th July. I'll write again but not holding out much joy 😬

[bishop84]

22 hours ago, Riocca said:

Have just read that Grand Cayman is closed to cruise ships until at least 2022. 
This has been known for many months but Marella are still selling itineraries that go there for November & December this year. 
We’ve still got almost 3 months until our balance is due but it’s becoming obvious that Explorer 2’s itineraries are not going to be viable. Would like to know what plans they have so we can make decisions ourselves.

I would assume that they will substitute another port, possibly another Jamaican port, until Grand Cayman reopens to cruise ships in, currently, January. That is assuming the Covid status of Cuba changes by then as it is a 'Red' country at the moment. 

Edited July 21, 2021 by bishop84

[Cliffholl55]

1 hour ago, bishop84 said:

I would assume that they will substitute another port, possibly another Jamaican port, until Grand Cayman reopens to cruise ships in, currently, January. That is assuming the Covid status of Cuba changes by then as it is a 'Red' country at the moment. 

Well we decided we don’t want to go now in January so spent 2 hours on phone and managed to swap for UK cruise end of August. Such a shame as had premier seats on plane and junior suite.  I can’t see things changing in the Caribbean. Didn’t want to pay balance and fight for over £7000 or receive voucher .

[Riocca]

One step in the right direction the international cruise ban is being lifted so travel insurance no longer becomes a problem.

 

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/cruise/international-cruise-ban-to-be-lifted

[Cliffholl55]

From what I can see it’s only cruises departing from the Uk.