Should I make final payment ?

[Luckiestmanonearth]

Traveling on Caribbean Princess in Jan 2022 and final payment is coming up in October

Stops include St Thomas and St Kitts

 

Wondering in Jan

1) is this cruise still going to sail

2) will I have fo wear a mask everywhere

3) will is make my port stops and can I roam around on our own in St Thomas

 

Should we pay and stay the course ?

[SargassoPirate]

I'm on a Princess cruise in the Caribbean in January.  I'm making my final payment.  The cruise is roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale, so no flying to a foreign country.  If for some reason it is cancelled by Princess, I'll retry later on, but I want to cruise and see how their sanitation procedures have changed.

 

When I was on the Sky in 2020 they were still wiping down tables in the Horizon Court with used cloth napkins that passengers left behind with the dirty dishes. I complained and got blank looks from the supervisors.

 

I bet they don't do that anymore 

 

 

[jondfk]

I understand your dilemma.  We're booked on Grand for January 4th to Hawaii.  Having had 5 bookings cancelled (2 after final payment, waited 7 months for refunds) we swore we wouldn't go past final payment again until ships started actually sailing.

 

Grand started yesterday (yea) but has cancelled all Hawaii sailings until 12/31 making ours now the first to sail which seems a risk.  Final payment is due in about 10 days - we've decided we will go ahead and make final payment and keep fingers crossed that the plan to sail to Hawaii holds.  

 

Not sure if our decision making process assists you, thought I'd share however just the same.

 

[Buckeye10640]

48 minutes ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

Traveling on Caribbean Princess in Jan 2022 and final payment is coming up in October

Stops include St Thomas and St Kitts

 

Wondering in Jan

1) is this cruise still going to sail

2) will I have fo wear a mask everywhere

3) will is make my port stops and can I roam around on our own in St Thomas

 

Should we pay and stay the course ?

I am on one of the earlier sailings in Nov. We are fully paid and we can cancel 30 days prior to sailing for a FCC although I have no plans to do so. Not sure if that 30 day rule was extended into 2022 though. 

 

Nobody will know the answers to your questions. My best guess is 1) yes 2) probably yes indoors. 3) probably yes

 

If you are uncomfortable with all of the uncertainty you might to cancel.  I hate uncertainty...but...I decided to accept it and go with it it because I really want to cruise again!

Edited September 26, 2021 by Buckeye10640

[Tak8]

1.  I'd say 90% it sails

2. I'd say almost 100% passengers will be wearing masks almost everywhere.

3. More of a toss up.  Hard to say what island restrictions may or may not be in place in January.

 

You have to ask yourself what the deal breakers are.  I had a New Year's cruise booked which I cancelled when the testing requirements were decreased.  I was concerned about getting it done between Christmas and New Year.  I'm not thrilled about the masks, but am willing to wear to get back on ship.  I'm also ok with islands changing based upon situation.  

[franktown]

I wish I had a crystal ball for my February Caribbean sailing but I don't.  We are all just guessing what the requirements will be early next year.  I doubt Princess has any idea.

[dog]

If you want to cruise pay it. If Princess cancels you will get refund/FCC. I would expect masks, restrictions, on-board and some islands. March 2020 just prior to pandemic ships were missing ports just can’t tell what will happen. Will all on-board be vaccinated? 

[lx200gps]

58 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

I am on one of the earlier sailings in Nov. We are fully paid and we can cancel 30 days prior to sailing for a FCC although I have no plans to do so. Not sure if that 30 day rule was extended into 2022 though. 

 

Nobody will know the answers to your questions. My best guess is 1) yes 2) probably yes indoors. 3) probably yes

 

If you are uncomfortable with all of the uncertainty you might to cancel.  I hate uncertainty...but...I decided to accept it and go with it it because I really want to cruise again!

Looks like it does extend partway through 2022. The Princess website as of today says...

 

• Cancel up to 30 days before you sail, and get your cancellation fees back as a Future Cruise Credit¹.
  • Applies to voyages departing through April 30, 2022.
  • Applies to bookings made through December 31, 2021.
• NEW: Within 30 days of your sail date, we've got you covered with our new COVID-19 Protection Program.
• Final Payment has been moved to 60-days prior to sailing.
  • Applies to voyages departing through October 31, 2021.

[Sea Hag]

1 hour ago, SargassoPirate said:

When I was on the Sky in 2020 they were still wiping down tables in the Horizon Court with used cloth napkins that passengers left behind with the dirty dishes. I complained and got blank looks from the supervisors.

 

I bet they don't do that anymore 

 

 

They for sure weren't doing that on the Majestic when we were on her in August! They were wiping down not only table tops but chairs with disinfectant as soon as people left. I was happy to see that.

[Ombud]

34 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

Looks like it does extend partway through 2022. The Princess website as of today says...

 

• Cancel up to 30 days before you sail, and get your cancellation fees back as a Future Cruise Credit¹.
  • Applies to voyages departing through April 30, 2022.
  • Applies to bookings made through December 31, 2021.
• NEW: Within 30 days of your sail date, we've got you covered with our new COVID-19 Protection Program.
• Final Payment has been moved to 60-days prior to sailing.
  • Applies to voyages departing through October 31, 2021.

I'm wondering if they'll allow us to rebook a replacement cruise for same price. Not that concerned about December as everything goes in Florida (and I'm doing ship excursions) but I'm concerned about April from SF if SF cancels (not doing these with ship)

Edited September 26, 2021 by Ombud

[JF - retired RRT]

2 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

When I was on the Sky in 2020 they were still wiping down tables in the Horizon Court with used cloth napkins that passengers left behind with the dirty dishes. I complained and got blank looks from the supervisors.

 

YUCK!! I've never seen that.

[JF - retired RRT]

2 hours ago, jondfk said:

I understand your dilemma.  We're booked on Grand for January 4th to Hawaii.  Having had 5 bookings cancelled (2 after final payment, waited 7 months for refunds) we swore we wouldn't go past final payment again until ships started actually sailing.

 

Grand started yesterday (yea) but has cancelled all Hawaii sailings until 12/31 making ours now the first to sail which seems a risk.  Final payment is due in about 10 days - we've decided we will go ahead and make final payment and keep fingers crossed that the plan to sail to Hawaii holds.  

 

Not sure if our decision making process assists you, thought I'd share however just the same.

 

We already cancelled. Our final is the 29th (TA). It would have been our first suite and using FCC to remove a little of the financial pain.

When the FCCs were returned to our accounts we were missing $935. Still waiting for Princess to sort that out.

[CineGraphic]

We booked a January sailing on the Caribbean just because a friend of ours is working on the ship.

She boarded in mid/late August for training and to help get the ship ready for guests.

I'm more worried our time in spent while in Florida, than being on the ship, so we're limiting our time in Fort Lauderdale by flying in the day of, which isn't a problem from Atlanta.

[Paula_MacFan]

We recently cancelled our Enchanted Caribbean cruise round trip from Ft Lauderdale January 19, 2022.  I couldn't bring myself to make the final payment with so many unknowns.  The day I cancelled, all 6 of our scheduled ports were listed as either '3/reconsider travel' or '4/do not travel' on the State Department's website.  We're taking the $$ and doing a nice land vacation instead.  We still have 3 cruises booked down the road, but right now I'm spending my money elsewhere.  

Edited September 26, 2021 by Paula_MacFan

[memoak]

We have a SF to Hawaii for mid January and unless Princess cancels prior to final payment we will pay. The case rates in Hawaii are going down and hopefully cruises will be allowed 2022. 

[AVCruzers]

We are booked to Hawaii for Jan. 4 and plan to make final payment next week.  Need to cruise!

[Luckiestmanonearth]

2 hours ago, lx200gps said:

 

• Final Payment has been moved to 60-days prior to sailing

If this is for sailings through Oct 2021, will they extend this ?

Edited September 26, 2021 by Luckiestmanonearth

[Markanddonna]

My biggest issue is the ports. Will we be allowed to get off, go to the beach, just walk around. To be honest, the only attraction of the Caribbean anymore is that it is nice and warm in Jan and Feb and live in Ohio.  I don't care to take tours, but I want off the ship to walk around on land.

 

I cancelled our Holy Land cruise last week because the final payment was due. Maybe I'm just supposed to do land vacations for the time being. This strategizing with Covid concerns, cruise ship excursions only, ports closed to us, etc. is wearing on all of us.

 

[Buckeye10640]

Hi Markanddonna....fellow Ohioan here. I am not seeing too much on our Southern ports (or Princess) restricting vaccinated  passengers from walking around although I have seen some references to mask requirements in port.  We have a couple months to go and I am hoping things will maybe even improve a bit. I am prepared to be flexible with any  port changes. We will see....

Edited September 26, 2021 by Buckeye10640

[SargassoPirate]

7 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

YUCK!! I've never seen that.

I guess you've been lucky or not watching for it. On every Princess cruise so far I have watched then wipe off the tables with a used cloth napkin and then reset the table with coffee mugs and juice tumblers upside down on the "clean" table.  I've also watched them remove unused tumblers and mugs and place them on the trays to be used to set another table.  Not confined to Princess either - saw the same thing on Viking.

 

I'm always wary of preset tables in the buffet and I embrace the new sanitation procedures even though most of them are simply theater so far as covid is concerned but will help with the spread of norovirus.

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, SargassoPirate said:

I guess you've been lucky or not watching for it. On every Princess cruise so far I have watched then wipe off the tables with a used cloth napkin and then reset the table with coffee mugs and juice tumblers upside down on the "clean" table.  I've also watched them remove unused tumblers and mugs and place them on the trays to be used to set another table.  Not confined to Princess either - saw the same thing on Viking.

 

I'm always wary of preset tables in the buffet and I embrace the new sanitation procedures even though most of them are simply theater so far as covid is concerned but will help with the spread of norovirus.

Agree with that. You never know where that cup has been before it found its way to your table. I usually grab my own cups from the stacks near the coffee/tea station.

[rdsqrl]

I have never seen tables in the buffet preset with mugs or tumblers. What would be the point, as they don't walk around with coffee or tea or water pitchers -- they take your order and go get your beverage.  You must be thinking of another cruise line. 

[milolii]

Hawaii cruises.   I hope you cruise.  Just FYI  NCL has canceled the Pride of America’s cruises until January 22.  This announcement was made in August.  It seems this ship would be the among the first to start cruising the islands since her home port is Honolulu. Good luck.  

[donswife]

We are doing a 4 day on the Grand next month to see how we like Covid era cruising before we commit to a week and cross country flights for our Caribbean sailing in February (final payment due in Nov).

[SargassoPirate]

11 hours ago, rdsqrl said:

I have never seen tables in the buffet preset with mugs or tumblers. What would be the point, as they don't walk around with coffee or tea or water pitchers -- they take your order and go get your beverage.  You must be thinking of another cruise line. 

 

Nope.  I've seen it on every Princess cruise so far.  In the early days, there would also be a little plastic placemat on the table and you would find your silverware laid out on the mat, as well as the coffee mugs and juice tumblers. At that time, they would wipe off the placemat with a used cloth napkin and then reset it with fresh silverware.  They gradually switched over to the silverware "burritos" and eventually the placemats disappeared.

 

Having worked in public health and conducted sanitation inspections of institutional food service operations, I am acutely aware of bad practices.  Maybe Covid will finally force the cruise lines to clean up their act.