Why the Cancellations??

[mcrcruiser]

7 hours ago, LocoLoco1 said:

I remain booked. HAL’s survey of ‘Why are you cancelling?’ would be a good read methinks. I suspect it often comes down to ‘Too much bother’ and ‘Don’t wanna risk an on board quarantine.’  Some reports of 30% occupancy? … yikes. 

We have a 18  night Hawaii cruise booked for Jan 21 ,2023 .If things don't change & improve we would not want to hassle getting tested  & perhaps get on a long cruise & get the virus again ,We just recovered from omnicron & I can tell you I never want it again ,We are also in our 80s  .so more reasons not to cruise if this virus still plaques cruises

[kazu]

On 1/26/2022 at 11:29 AM, mikebsxm said:

If you book your air connections directly with an airline, you must pay for your flights at the time of booking.  If you have to cancel your cruise later, you may have a problem getting your airfare returned because you are dealing directly with the airline.  

 

Not if you book flex air with your airline which is exactly what I have done with points.  I’m not disagreeing on Flight Ease but there are other options. Flight Ease gets tricky when HAL says it’s extending final payments.  JME

 

;

On 1/24/2022 at 4:08 PM, Hlitner said:

 

All that being said I have asked the somewhat rhetorical question of what will be different 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc. from now?  That is the underlying thinking that convinced us (nearly a year ago) to return to our normal life (to the extent that it can be done with COVID).  Waiting around our US home with the thought that we will just wait until this situation improves is akin to "Waiting for Godot."  Consider that we are 2 years into this Pandemic with more COVID cases then at anytime in the past 2 years....despite vaccines and therapeutics.  Two years from now we may even have more COVID cases then now with some other variant (or even new virus).  The statement that This is more likely than not" is not far fetched.   Since we are seniors we do not have the luxury of time to sit around for a few more years in the hopes that the world disease situation improves.  In fact the cat is truly out of the bag and governments may well move to lock downs for just about anything from an epidemic of ingrown toenails to the flu.  

 

While I don’t totally disagree with you Hank, everyone’s situation is different.  I have no desire to cruise the Caribbean (where who cares if a port is missed or substituted) nor to go to Mexico (we can’t get away in the winter easily with our storms).

We choose interesting itineraries and not to call on several ports (or be refuesed) would be a huge disappointment.  It it were a standard Med cruise, wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the world but that hasn’t been our choice.  Been there, done that and like to see new places and experience new things.  

So, that has to be taken into consideration as well.  No point in paying major dollars to find the trip you planned is now a totally different itinerary.
 

My personal circumstances prohibit travel right now.  It has nothing to do with fear of covid or travel - it’s life.  Everyone is in a different situation.

[LocoLoco1]

I remain booked. If I may.. I will add an update of sorts to written HAL cruise cancellation policies etc. of late and what is actually taking place. I suspect the dreadfully low booking numbers currently have forced their liberalized policies into being. My situation: I simply rang up my HAL gal this past week. Told her: ‘Cancel my Fall 2022 cruise, rebook me a Cruise and Air for Feb. 2022 with my whopper FCC’s instead, then sweep all my unused FCC’s out to 2023 or beyond and give my partner the 50% off rate.’ ANSWER: ‘Done’.  Indeed, was that perhaps doable in years past as well? I dunno, but in my instance this past week it was done literally in 5/min. It’s clear to me, now in early 2022 anyway, they need bodies aboardship more than ever before. 

[bennybear]

9 minutes ago, LocoLoco1 said:

I remain booked. If I may.. I will add an update of sorts to written HAL cruise cancellation policies etc. of late and what is actually taking place. I suspect the dreadfully low booking numbers currently have forced their liberalized policies into being. My situation: I simply rang up my HAL gal this past week. Told her: ‘Cancel my Fall 2022 cruise, rebook me a Cruise and Air for Feb. 2022 with my whopper FCC’s instead, then sweep all my unused FCC’s out to 2023 or beyond and give my partner the 50% off rate.’ ANSWER: ‘Done’.  Indeed, was that perhaps doable in years past as well? I dunno, but in my instance this past week it was done literally in 5/min. It’s clear to me, now in early 2022 anyway, they need bodies aboardship more than ever before. 

Wow, that they are so desperate to get people onboard now , they are extending the credits until 2023 as thanks?

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Not if you book flex air with your airline which is exactly what I have done with points.  I’m not disagreeing on Flight Ease but there are other options. Flight Ease gets tricky when HAL says it’s extending final payments.  JME

 

;

 

While I don’t totally disagree with you Hank, everyone’s situation is different.  I have no desire to cruise the Caribbean (where who cares if a port is missed or substituted) nor to go to Mexico (we can’t get away in the winter easily with our storms).

We choose interesting itineraries and not to call on several ports (or be refuesed) would be a huge disappointment.  It it were a standard Med cruise, wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the world but that hasn’t been our choice.  Been there, done that and like to see new places and experience new things.  

So, that has to be taken into consideration as well.  No point in paying major dollars to find the trip you planned is now a totally different itinerary.
 

My personal circumstances prohibit travel right now.  It has nothing to do with fear of covid or travel - it’s life.  Everyone is in a different situation.

Each to their own :).  We are not in a competition with anyone but simply enjoy traveling around the world on ships and on independent land travel.  COVID has been a real bump in the road for nearly two years but, as of last July, we have resumed something akin to our normal adventures.  The one disappointment has been our inability to get back to Asia for two years and we can just hope that our health (and ability to travel) survives long enough to see that part of the world again open to travel.  

 

I do agree with you about the changed itineraries.  We had an Oceania Marina cruise booked for early December that we cancelled 3 weeks prior to embarkation because "O" changed the itinerary in such a way as to make the voyage unattractive to us.  So we simply substituted a last minute Caribbean cruise that better met our wants.  This year we have plans for an interesting TA coupled with a few independent weeks in Europe when we hope to get to a new destination (long on our bucket list) where we can spend a few weeks on a driving trip.  While we are not sure that trip will happen (one never knows in this COVID era) we are moving ahead with our planning and are optimistic.

 

One can certainly sit back and hope that the world situation (in terms of travel) eventually returns to something we would all consider normal.  But we are not willing to give up a few more years of our lives just sitting and waiting for something to happen that may not happen in our lifetime.  For us it is simply a matter of looking at the current situation and making plans that have a good chance of working instead of just waiting and hoping for something that may never happen.  

 

I know that you are a big HAL fan and I hope that we meet you on some future exotic HAL itinerary.  But that clock keeps on ticking and I have serious doubts that we will ever see a return to the cruise/travel world that has existed for much of our lives.  I also have some concern about the future survival of HAL (or what we know of as HAL).  But that darn clock just keeps on ticking and DW and I do not have the luxury of spending our remaining senior years just waiting and hoping.  We have always been "doers" as opposed to "dreamers."  At the moment I fear that many have moved away from reality into a place that is filled with dreams.  Perhaps those dreams will come true (we sure hope that happens) but there is also too much happening that calls all that into doubt.  So we simply look at the travel and cruise opportunities that exist and move on.   I do not like the cards we have been dealt but we intend to make the best of our hand.

 

Hank

[mcrcruiser]

Hank sorry to say we cancelled the 3 cruises  ,2 for Dec 2022 & one end of  Jan 2023 . The last one was on Koningsdam Hawaii . We are getting too old to take risks both with health & the cruise fees .  when you get into your 80s things change & especially having gone through recovery from covid 

 

 We are keeping 2 cruises alive for now  in 2023 ,in the hopes that those we can take 

 

 We are waiting ti gear about our request for time share 2 weeks for a road trip to  Tombstone AZ ,Tucson  & Scottsdale AZ  for late October  

 

  I wish you & your wife many happy & healthy cruises & trips 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

13 hours ago, Hlitner said:

One can certainly sit back and hope that the world situation (in terms of travel) eventually returns to something we would all consider normal.  But we are not willing to give up a few more years of our lives just sitting and waiting for something to happen that may not happen in our lifetime.  For us it is simply a matter of looking at the current situation and making plans that have a good chance of working instead of just waiting and hoping for something that may never happen.  

 

I hear you on that.  But to be clear I am not sitting back and waiting.  I have a personal circumstance with DH hospitalized which prevents travel right now.  If I could go, I would.  I can’t.  DH comes first.

 

13 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I know that you are a big HAL fan and I hope that we meet you on some future exotic HAL itinerary.

 

I have enjoyed many HAL cruises especially on the Prinsendam & with Captain Rens Van Eerten (sp?) on the Westerdam but we have certainly been on many cruise lines in our lives. (Homeline, NCL, Princess, Celebrity, Oceania)
 

I’m not adverse to other lines with the right itinerary and the right service at all.  😉  I just don’t appreciate false promises.

[mcrcruiser]

I wish that cruise critic would let people discuss the reality  of  how many people are infected aboard cruise ships . Seems to me from some of what we are reading on these boards the numbers of infected are increasing  . for us the CDC recommends we not go on cruises  ,one because of age & being most vunerable 

[mcrcruiser]

Kazu hope that your  husband heals & that you both can travel once again  . Best wishes for a speedy recovery 

[Hlitner]

6 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

Hank sorry to say we cancelled the 3 cruises  ,2 for Dec 2022 & one end of  Jan 2023 . The last one was on Koningsdam Hawaii . We are getting too old to take risks both with health & the cruise fees .  when you get into your 80s things change & especially having gone through recovery from covid 

 

 We are keeping 2 cruises alive for now  in 2023 ,in the hopes that those we can take 

 

 We are waiting ti gear about our request for time share 2 weeks for a road trip to  Tombstone AZ ,Tucson  & Scottsdale AZ  for late October  

 

  I wish you & your wife many happy & healthy cruises & trips 

 

 

 

 

I used to think of 80s as old but being seniors we have a different perspective :).  We wish you the best of luck with whatever you choose to do.   It is sad when many cruise lovers cannot justify the new risks associated with being on a cruise ship.  DW and I also debate the issue since we are still have that independent spirt of adventure that drives us to do extensive independent land trips.  For us the debate was whether to simply fly to Europe (in the Spring) and spend a few weeks/months just doing our thing with a rental car vs taking a TA cruise.  Tough choice.

 

Hank

[mcrcruiser]

12 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I used to think of 80s as old but being seniors we have a different perspective :).  We wish you the best of luck with whatever you choose to do.   It is sad when many cruise lovers cannot justify the new risks associated with being on a cruise ship.  DW and I also debate the issue since we are still have that independent spirt of adventure that drives us to do extensive independent land trips.  For us the debate was whether to simply fly to Europe (in the Spring) and spend a few weeks/months just doing our thing with a rental car vs taking a TA cruise.  Tough choice.

 

Hank

What ever you & your wife decide Hank ,enjoy to the max . It is nice to see a up spirit 

[LocoLoco1]

HAL’s wheelhouse is longer/exotic cruise destinations (20+ days). Might be difficult to nudge potential cruisers to book them if this Testing for Covid kerfuffle continues indefinitely. T’was very hard for me to commit, and I remain booked; but it’s understandable why others may not. 

[SML123]

IF you can live with the worse case scenario the best takes care of itself. 

 

Worse case scenarios involve my husband or I testing positive while on ship. Worse worse is that we need to be removed from ship for medical care. Moderate worst is that we are split up while one recovers in a Q cabin with food and water left at the door. Small worse case is that we are fine but the ports which are subject to political rhetoric and misinformation do not allow us to disembark, and we have to simply float around. 

 

BEST case is that none of this happens, but the three bad scenarios outweigh the one good one. Im out for the moment.  

 

Hang on and it will all flesh out soon. Omicron is running its course. Hey didnt Pfizer create a pill and even get it approved that lessened Covid illness and death by 90% when taken in the first few days??? What happened to those??? 

[LocoLoco1]

All this heightened health awareness might have HUGE secondary benefits for also tamping down Noro, ‘CruiseCrud’, or cruises having to go to CodeRed etc. So maybe some of these precautions were overdue. 

[AFNavigator]

1 hour ago, LocoLoco1 said:

All this heightened health awareness might have HUGE secondary benefits for also tamping down Noro, ‘CruiseCrud’, or cruises having to go to CodeRed etc. So maybe some of these precautions were overdue. 

On our December Eurodam, the cruise director made sure to applaud the largely unseen crew that swept through the ship every night fogging and sanitizing virtually every public touch point possible.  Add in the crew periodically wiping down elevator panels, bathroom door handles, etc., and the risk should be lower than in the past.

 

It's a shame that some cruise lines like Carnival resumed their self serve buffets after operating crew-served their initial opening months.  That was a health-positive opportunity wasted...probably for the sake of reducing serving staff.

[Iris5383]

22 hours ago, SML123 said:

 

Hang on and it will all flesh out soon. Omicron is running its course. Hey didnt Pfizer create a pill and even get it approved that lessened Covid illness and death by 90% when taken in the first few days??? What happened to those??? 

Those pills were approved for emergency use in December and as of last week are still being studied for general use (from a quick internet search). Hopefully, they are a game changer.

[bennybear]

42 minutes ago, Iris5383 said:

Those pills were approved for emergency use in December and as of last week are still being studied for general use (from a quick internet search). Hopefully, they are a game changer.

My understanding is that there are a lot of side effects and several contraindications.  So I think they’ll help some, but they need to be taken in the first five days.  

[bennybear]

20 hours ago, LocoLoco1 said:

All this heightened health awareness might have HUGE secondary benefits for also tamping down Noro, ‘CruiseCrud’, or cruises having to go to CodeRed etc. So maybe some of these precautions were overdue. 

That would be a wonderful result.