Anyone booked on Armonia in November ?

[quattrohead]

I have made a roll call for Armonia on the November 5th 2021 cruise.

Is anyone else booked at all ? No cabins are getting bought up from what I can see, still same cabin blocks fully available and have been for months. We have 9001...alone.

I am wondering if MSC might cancel Armonia and move everyone to Meraviglia out of Miami or Divina out of Canaveral.

[shipgeeks]

We have two cruises on Armonia in December/January.  One or two of us on roll calls.  We've been wondering about it, too.  But these will be our third Armonia re-book, so maybe third time is a charm.

[cruiseguyinorl]

Please don't hold me to this, but inside rumors have said the Armonia will not be returning to US sailings. We will only have the Seashore, Meraviglia and the Divina. Again, no official confirmation of this but I would suggest alternate plans be on standby.

Bret

[mscdivina2016]

2 hours ago, quattrohead said:

 

I am wondering if MSC might cancel Armonia and move everyone to Meraviglia out of Miami or Divina out of Canaveral.

 I was on the phone with them and I asked about that.  They would not move you, they would cancel you. They actuall tried to steer me to the other ships.

I figured book a suite on her, get moved to a suite on Meraviglia 😀

Steve

[quattrohead]

I just called them and got the typical we don't know any more than you but everything is FINE lol.

I would be happy to be moved to the equivalent room on Divina on the 14th as Canaveral is much closer and easier.

Will be keeping an eye on the situation.

[quattrohead]

2 hours ago, cruiseguyinorl said:

Please don't hold me to this, but inside rumors have said the Armonia will not be returning to US sailings. We will only have the Seashore, Meraviglia and the Divina. Again, no official confirmation of this but I would suggest alternate plans be on standby.

Bret

Common sense and logical reasoning make this a distinct possibility in my mind, hence the thread.

Although Armonia has been hanging around Florida the whole pandemic....I think the only MSC ship to do so.

[quattrohead]

I just looked her up and she is on her way to Napoli in Italy 😵. It left the Bahamas August 5th so not in any hurry.

Maybe it is going there for some maintenance and updates to sail again but I have increasing doubts.

Edited August 23, 2021 by quattrohead

[shipgeeks]

Yikes,  I was just going to post that the fact that she has been here (Bahamas/POM) for so long I was taking as a good sign.

But the post above is not so encouraging.

 

[shipgeeks]

She is currently south of Sardinia.  My hopes seem to be fading.

[quattrohead]

She is not in a hurry to get to port. There is plenty of time to get work done and return, but I just think they have all the options they will need in Florida without Armonia.

I have been investigating a plan B. Divina out of PC would be great.

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, quattrohead said:

Divina out of PC would be great

 

A couple of us would like to see Armonia sail from the Port of Baltimore.  The Port has room for her and for those of us who live in easier driving distance than the Florida ports, it would be most helpful.  

[mscdivina2016]

59 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

A couple of us would like to see Armonia sail from the Port of Baltimore.  The Port has room for her and for those of us who live in easier driving distance than the Florida ports, it would be most helpful.  

Where would she sail? If Bermuda locks down or Bahamas they are screwed. No other choices. Would be a very poor decision in my opinion.

Steve

[shipgeeks]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

A couple of us would like to see Armonia sail from the Port of Baltimore.  The Port has room for her and for those of us who live in easier driving distance than the Florida ports, it would be most helpful.  

And Baltimore would lend itself to longer cruises (yes, please!) instead of the 3- and 4-nighters that fill up much of her schedule now.  

[shipgeeks]

27 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Where would she sail? If Bermuda locks down or Bahamas they are screwed. No other choices. Would be a very poor decision in my opinion.

Steve

Isn't that the same problem being faced by Florida cruises?  At least sailings from Baltimore have some nice sea days in both directions.  Sailings further into the Caribbean have been common for years.

Baltimore sailings have also, over the years, gone to Canada and New England regularly.  Not an option right now, but when it can be done, Baltimore is better positioned than Florida ports.

[mscdivina2016]

2 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

Isn't that the same problem being faced by Florida cruises? 

Not really for a 7 nighter. At least 8 ports available to satisfy jones act.

 

Bahamas, Mexico, Caymans, Jamaica, Grand Cayman.

STeve

[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Not really for a 7 nighter. At least 8 ports available to satisfy jones act.

 

Bahamas, Mexico, Caymans, Jamaica, Grand Cayman.

STeve

 

A couple of us would like a few cruises longer than 7 days.  There are islands in the lower Caribbean that are welcoming cruise guests, if the guests meet their restrictions.  

[shipgeeks]

12 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

A couple of us would like a few cruises longer than 7 days.  There are islands in the lower Caribbean that are welcoming cruise guests, if the guests meet their restrictions.  

I would say many of us would book longer cruises out of Baltimore.  

We have done RC's 12-nighters to the lower Caribbean many times, as well as the 9-night Canada/New England cruises.  Even without Canadian ports, a cruise to Boston, Bar Harbor, Portland would appeal, and if NYC was added, that would be excellent!

Then there are Charleston and Savannah......

[rkacruiser]

48 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

Even without Canadian ports, a cruise to Boston, Bar Harbor, Portland would appeal, and if NYC was added, that would be excellent!

Then there are Charleston and Savannah......

 

.....Newport.  The possibilities exist.  Covid ought to be causing some "thinking outside of the box" for some entities involved with cruising.  Some out dated laws need to be changed.  Congress was able to do so for the 2021 Alaska season, so, it is not impossible for change to happen.  

[mscdivina2016]

4 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

.....Newport.  The possibilities exist.  Covid ought to be causing some "thinking outside of the box" for some entities involved with cruising.  Some out dated laws need to be changed.  Congress was able to do so for the 2021 Alaska season, so, it is not impossible for change to happen.  

Doubt that will happen. Remember it was the US who said border is closed, so in retaliation Canada did so as well. It was clearly retaliation as the ship only needed to make a technical stop in Vancouver.

The simple solution would be to register the ship in the USA.

 

Steve

[rkacruiser]

5 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

The simple solution would be to register the ship in the USA.

 

May I stop laughing now?  Who wants to pay the fare that would have to be charged for such a thing to happen?  Have you ever priced the Pride of America's fares for a Hawaii cruise?  

[mscdivina2016]

27 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

May I stop laughing now?  Who wants to pay the fare that would have to be charged for such a thing to happen?  Have you ever priced the Pride of America's fares for a Hawaii cruise?  

 

27 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

May I stop laughing now?  Who wants to pay the fare that would have to be charged for such a thing to happen?  Have you ever priced the Pride of America's fares for a Hawaii cruise?  

Exactly!  Which is why you have no ships sailing from that area and there may not be for years.  Its a lose lose for them especially with how fluid things are. 

 Too many people only have a week, that is why the week cruises dominate the market.

 The whole eastern seaboard is dead right now as far as ports go.  One foreign closure and it could be a disaster.

Steve

 

[rkacruiser]

4 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Too many people only have a week, that is why the week cruises dominate the market.

 

The baby boomers are coming into the age of retirement.  With money.  There are still enough of us older than them who are still around and want to cruise.  With the resources to do so.  (Thankfully)

 

6 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

The whole eastern seaboard is dead right now as far as ports go. 

 

I choose to be optimistic and believe that these ports will become active again.  They have so many advantages over some of the congested Florida ports.  

[mscdivina2016]

16 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I choose to be optimistic and believe that these ports will become active again.  They have so many advantages over some of the congested Florida ports.  

They will become active again but until we get a handle on this epidemic it may take some time.

Steve

[quattrohead]

She did arrive in Napoli after a leisurely 21 day crossing from Ocean Cay.

Opera is due into Napoli tomorrow and they both join Norwegian Star and Seven Seas Navigator.

[quattrohead]

According to this post, a salsa group booking got moved from Armonia to Divina back in July, so it seems MSC know they may not bring Armonia back to the USA. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2800038-msc-divina-change-from-3-day-to-7-day/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-61793606

Armonia is still bookable from November 1st so maybe I am worried about nothing.

I was just on the phone to a rep who did not even know which ships sail out of which ports in the USA. She huffed and puffed at my questions. I asked if I needed to help her and she put me on hold until it timed out. I don't think she was enjoying her job lol.