questions about cruise for 2023

[KsucAts]

My apologies, as I don't have time to do research right now & have been away from these boards since I had to cancel my 2020 cruise.  

 

We have a group of friends who want to take a cruise in Feb. or March of 2023.  We have agreed on Royal Caribbean out of Galveston on Allure.  But in order for me to go, I want all Covid related rules to be completely gone - no vax requirements, no testing, no masks, etc.  Back to the way it was in 2019.  What is the general feeling of when everything will go away?

 

Also, what are drink package prices currently going for?

[John&LaLa]

6 minutes ago, KsucAts said:

My apologies, as I don't have time to do research right now & have been away from these boards since I had to cancel my 2020 cruise.  

 

We have a group of friends who want to take a cruise in Feb. or March of 2023.  We have agreed on Royal Caribbean out of Galveston on Allure.  But in order for me to go, I want all Covid related rules to be completely gone - no vax requirements, no testing, no masks, etc.  Back to the way it was in 2019.  What is the general feeling of when everything will go away?

 

Also, what are drink package prices currently going for?

 

Look at 2024/2025 season

[cruisetorelax44]

no one can say when everything will go away... viruses are unpredictable. if you aren't willing to sail with some restrictions, i wouldn't book. 
drink prices change all of the time on different sailings. a cruise that's a year off, they aren't even on sale now to get an idea about what they would cost.

 

[Biker19]

25 minutes ago, KsucAts said:

What is the general feeling of when everything will go away?

You know someone at CDC?

[Joseph2017China]

27 minutes ago, KsucAts said:

My apologies, as I don't have time to do research right now & have been away from these boards since I had to cancel my 2020 cruise.  

 

We have a group of friends who want to take a cruise in Feb. or March of 2023.  We have agreed on Royal Caribbean out of Galveston on Allure.  But in order for me to go, I want all Covid related rules to be completely gone - no vax requirements, no testing, no masks, etc.  Back to the way it was in 2019.  What is the general feeling of when everything will go away?

 

Also, what are drink package prices currently going for?

Well, I pretty sure, your question can't be answered. 

[Charles4515]

32 minutes ago, KsucAts said:

My apologies, as I don't have time to do research right now & have been away from these boards since I had to cancel my 2020 cruise.  

 

We have a group of friends who want to take a cruise in Feb. or March of 2023.  We have agreed on Royal Caribbean out of Galveston on Allure.  But in order for me to go, I want all Covid related rules to be completely gone - no vax requirements, no testing, no masks, etc.  Back to the way it was in 2019.  What is the general feeling of when everything will go away?

 

Also, what are drink package prices currently going for?

None can predict ( that includes drink prices LOL)  but it will never go back to the way it was in 2019.  If there is annual covid shot the may be required forever......

[KsucAts]

7 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

None can predict ( that includes drink prices LOL)  but it will never go back to the way it was in 2019.  If there is annual covid shot the may be required forever......

 

One can only hope that it isn't.  If it is, we will never cruise again & I am sure there are others that feel the same way.  I would think the cruise industry will not want to limit their customer base forever.  

[Charles4515]

16 minutes ago, KsucAts said:

 

One can only hope that it isn't.  If it is, we will never cruise again & I am sure there are others that feel the same way.  I would think the cruise industry will not want to limit their customer base forever.  

 

I hope they won't end up requiring vaccination forever. What I am saying is it could happen. 2023 is not predictable right now. I  If  vaccination is required forever or not Covid happened and we will ever go back to what it was like it was before. As for the limiting their customer base by requiring vaccination they were able to recover when cruise restarted. Much of their base would not have cruised if vaccinations were not required. I hope you will be able to cruise again and all the restrictions go away but the cruise industry will be fine if you never cruise again. 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Charles4515

[Jasukkie]

You should not book in hopes rules will change. It's way too unpredictable. I've been on four pandemic era cruises with Royal and no two had exactly the same protocols. 

 

Drink packages vary by ship, have not seen deep discounts recently.

[Cigar King]

1 hour ago, KsucAts said:

We have a group of friends who want to take a cruise in Feb. or March of 2023.  We have agreed on Royal Caribbean out of Galveston on Allure.  But in order for me to go, I want all Covid related rules to be completely gone - no vax requirements, no testing, no masks, etc.  Back to the way it was in 2019.  What is the general feeling of when everything will go away?

Suggest you consider other options.  Even if things continue to improve, and I'm sure we all hope they do, there's no way to predict what will be happening a year from now.

[molly361]

Be sure if you do book to book a refundable fare

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, KsucAts said:

What is the general feeling of when everything will go away?

Who can possibly say?  The subvariants - or whatever else could come along - run on their own schedule. Surely hoping things are reasonably "back to normal" by next year. 

Edited April 1, 2022 by AnyWayIsGood

[pcur]

If I just landed from outer space, and I saw that a virus had killed over 6 million inhabitants of this planet Earth, and I wanted to start a business that crammed THOUSANDS of people together in a container, I would want those inhabitants protected from this virus.

 

The virus from the Hong Kong flu in 1968 is STILL floating around........................

[Travelling2Some]

1 hour ago, pcur said:

The virus from the Hong Kong flu in 1968 is STILL floating around........................

I actually had the Hong Kong flu back then.  There is also still a case or two of Bubonic plague every year (but that's bacterial, not a virus). 

 

Anyway, to answer the OP - No harm in making refundable reservations.  That's what we have been doing for the past year or so.  We just canceled them one by one at final payment until they did away with the mask requirement.  We're finally going to go next month.  I always had alternatives in mind too so it has been a year of domestic land trips for us.

[Oceansaway17]

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

You know someone at CDC?

and they would not know the future either.

[PhillyFan33579]

4 hours ago, KsucAts said:

 

One can only hope that it isn't.  If it is, we will never cruise again & I am sure there are others that feel the same way.  I would think the cruise industry will not want to limit their customer base forever.  

I think the cruise lines would lose significantly more customers if they eliminated the vaccine requirement any time soon. I have been on 8 cruises since last August, but I would stop cruising if they eliminated the current COVID protocols. I know numerous friends who feel the same way. I could see the testing requirement going away sooner or later, but I don’t see the vaccination requirement going away for a long time, especially considering the emphasis now on getting a second booster shot. Of course this is just my opinion, but I think getting a COVID vaccination at least annually is going to be the standard. If that happens, I don’t see the cruise lines eliminating the vaccine requirement. 

[fsufancc]

The future is all speculative.  Break out the tea leaves, grab your Ouija board, find a pack of tarot cards and polish up the crystal ball.  Who knows what rules will be in place at that time?  Variants know no bounds. I get my annual flu shot, shingles and probably going forward an annual Covid booster.  Lost too many dear friends to Covid to not get shots (three) for myself and wife.  One friend was only 43, left a wife and 5 boys behind (cultural reasons), another buddy at 61 (political reasons) and nearly his wife.  We cancelled a 2020 cruise to Alaska with some of my grown kids due to Covid.  We are now planning on trying again in June 2023.  Between now and then I will probably get a second booster and by then maybe we can be on an annual schedule like the flu/shingles vaccine shots I get now. Honestly, the shingles shot was and is worse than any of my Covid vaccines and flu shot.  

[OnTheJourney]

2 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

No harm in making refundable reservations

I don't see any option for this on the website (?) 

[OnTheJourney]

40 minutes ago, fsufancc said:

Lost too many dear friends to Covid to not get shots (three) for myself and wife.  One friend was only 43, left a wife and 5 boys behind (cultural reasons), another buddy at 61 (political reasons) and nearly his wife.

So very sorry to hear this....😟

[Tree_skier]

5 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

 

I hope they won't end up requiring vaccination forever. What I am saying is it could happen. 2023 is not predictable right now. I  If  vaccination is required forever or not Covid happened and we will ever go back to what it was like it was before. As for the limiting their customer base by requiring vaccination they were able to recover when cruise restarted. Much of their base would not have cruised if vaccinations were not required. I hope you will be able to cruise again and all the restrictions go away but the cruise industry will be fine if you never cruise again. 

In the US 65% of the eligible population got fully vaccinated.  28% of the eligible population got the booster.  The percentage of those getting the next and any subsequent booster will only continue to diminish. I'm sure this is why most cruise lines have no booster requirement. There is no  chance that the diminishing willingness of people to get more shots will somehow suddenly start ratcheting up. Neither is there any likelyhood cruise lines are willing to further shrink the pool of customers by mandating anything the vast majority people are unwilling to do.

 

As for their ability to survive previously, that can be attributed to their ability to take on massive debt and a temporary reduced capacity on sailings.  That debt must now be serviced and reduced capacity sailings won't allow them to service that debt long term.  In the long term they need full ships and that requires the full population having access to those ships. 

[Jimbo]

6 hours ago, KsucAts said:

My apologies, as I don't have time to do research right now & have been away from these boards since I had to cancel my 2020 cruise.  

 

We have a group of friends who want to take a cruise in Feb. or March of 2023.  We have agreed on Royal Caribbean out of Galveston on Allure.  But in order for me to go, I want all Covid related rules to be completely gone - no vax requirements, no testing, no masks, etc.  Back to the way it was in 2019.  What is the general feeling of when everything will go away?

 

Also, what are drink package prices currently going for?

Think you might better off looking for an all-inclusive on some island in the Caribbean for your friends and leave it at that. I'm sure it would be much easier then trying to figure out what any of the cruise lines are going to do.

[ONECRUISER]

6 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Look at 2024/2025 season

Agree, want say will be 2023 but Definitely safer to Book 2024 when all Vax & Testing requirements are long gone

[Charles4515]

5 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

In the US 65% of the eligible population got fully vaccinated.  28% of the eligible population got the booster.  The percentage of those getting the next and any subsequent booster will only continue to diminish. I'm sure this is why most cruise lines have no booster requirement.

 

There is no way that getting 2 or 3 boosters a year is viable.  As you noted only 28% of the population has had the 3rd shot. I am getting these threads mixed up but I have posted I  had 3 and I am not running out and getting the 4th shot with the current data.  Someone in that thread implied my position was antivax. What the F !!!!   If there were an annual shot that was improved I believe an uptake would be higher.  That is if it is actually needed.  It seems that some want to measure by quantity of antibodies rather than quality of protection. If covid remains a lessor threat of serious illness than before then it won't be forever. On this thread the main point i am making  is that a date vaccination won't be required is unknown. It could be not required in 2023. It could be not required in two months. It could be not required in 2024, etc. Also I would happily cruise with the OP who asked the question. I don't care if OP is vaccinated or not. 

[Tree_skier]

6 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

There is no way that getting 2 or 3 boosters a year is viable.  As you noted only 28% of the population has had the 3rd shot. I am getting these threads mixed up but I have posted I  had 3 and I am not running out and getting the 4th shot with the current data.  Someone in that thread implied my position was antivax. What the F !!!!   If there were an annual shot that was improved I believe an uptake would be higher.  That is if it is actually needed.  It seems that some want to measure by quantity of antibodies rather than quality of protection. If covid remains a lessor threat of serious illness than before then it won't be forever. On this thread the main point i am making  is that a date vaccination won't be required is unknown. It could be not required in 2023. It could be not required in two months. It could be not required in 2024, etc. Also I would happily cruise with the OP who asked the question. I don't care if OP is vaccinated or not. 

I agree with everything you write with the exception of an annual booster.  I don't believe there would be any significant uptick in the participation rate of an annual booster.  Not in America, anyways.

[John&LaLa]

6 hours ago, KsucAts said:

 

One can only hope that it isn't.  If it is, we will never cruise again & I am sure there are others that feel the same way.  I would think the cruise industry will not want to limit their customer base forever.  

 

They still will have hundreds of millions of potential customers