Booking future cruises - what happens in the case of an sudden worldwide "event"?

[NJ&Ozzie]

Hey All,

 

Looking to book a couple of back to back cruises in mid-April with some friends from Canada. There is so much talk in the news about things going on in the world right now (any number of possible scenarios).  There is concern about what would happen in the case of a sudden "event" outside of our control.

 

If we go ahead and book - how can we prepare?  Should we even be concerned?  

 

Appreciate any thoughts.  Thanks!

[toxicfairy]

I always figure I could worry about every what if...or I could just live my life. Seriously you can't prepare if you don't know what kind of "event" it would be and definitely not on vacation.  I'd look into good insurance but other than that if it's a real crisis like the grid goes down the last thing you'll be worried about is a cruise.

 

[mo&fran]

Look what  happened in 2020.

[SG65CB]

If your cruise is canceled due to a worldwide event your money will be refunded. 

 

Book the cruise and prepare the same as you would for any vacation. 

[DennysDad]

Is there a "world wide" event on the brink of happening I'm missing?

[NJ&Ozzie]

58 minutes ago, SG65CB said:

If your cruise is canceled due to a worldwide event your money will be refunded. 

 

Book the cruise and prepare the same as you would for any vacation. 

 

Guess we're more concerned about what if we are stuck on the ship or in a foreign country.  

[Another_Critic]

You deal with it when it happens.

 

Things can happen at home (your house, neighborhood, district, province, country) too, are you worried about that?

[Sunshine3601]

25 minutes ago, NJ&Ozzie said:

 

Guess we're more concerned about what if we are stuck on the ship or in a foreign country.  

Where are you looking to cruise from / to in April?

[klfhngr]

The last days

[barbeyg]

As others have said, have good insurance, credit cards, and accessible money in the bank, if traveling internationally especially.  No one can prepare for every contingency, and trying to would cause unnecessary stress.  Only you can decide what your tolerance level is for international travel. 🙂

 

That said, we currently have multiple cruises booked and two of them internationally this year alone.  While I keep up with the news, and stay current with what is going on, it’s mostly clickbait sensationalizing these days. 🤷🏻‍♀️ If every variant of some illness had run rampant (like they constantly warn), we’d all have succumbed by now. 

Edited March 11 by barbeyg

[NJ&Ozzie]

18 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Where are you looking to cruise from / to in April?

rhapsody - panama to FLL, then FLL to san juan - april

[Sunshine3601]

3 minutes ago, NJ&Ozzie said:

rhapsody - panama to FLL, then FLL to san juan - april

 

3 minutes ago, NJ&Ozzie said:

rhapsody - panama to FLL, then FLL to san juan - april

I wouldn't worry about any "world events/issues" with a caribbean cruise.     

 

I hope you book it and have a great time.   We love b2b's.      

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

17 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

As others have said, have good insurance, credit cards, and accessible money in the bank, if traveling internationally especially.  No one can prepare for every contingency, and trying to would cause unnecessary stress.  Only you can decide what your tolerance level is for international travel. 🙂

This is precisely what I was going to say. I would never shame or ridicule someone for having a different risk tolerance threshold than someone else, and only you can decide if it's worth it.  

 

I would only add that some insurance policies offer a "cancel for any reason" add-on. That way, if events develop in a way that causes your concerns to increase, you can always cancel.

 

Edited March 11 by la_croisiere_s'amuse

[smokeybandit]

Just go about your day. Book your cruises. Deal with the unexpected issues when they come because trying to deal with them before they arrive will just drive you batty.

[Wineaux007]

Book a refundable fare.

[toxicfairy]

1 hour ago, NJ&Ozzie said:

 

Guess we're more concerned about what if we are stuck on the ship or in a foreign country.  

It would depend on the event. If the grid goes down, credit cards won't matter. And refunds wouldn't be able to be given. They would probably get you to the nearest safe port. 

But if it were another kind of event who knows. They would probably get as close to the port the cruise was supposed to end at.

 

[BecciBoo]

1 hour ago, NJ&Ozzie said:

 

Guess we're more concerned about what if we are stuck on the ship or in a foreign country.  

There were ships full of people who got stuck onboard when Covid hit,  Yes, there was some hardship endured but most made it.  Is it that soon that we forget what actually happened?  It's out of our control in any event.  Maybe it would be good to look back in retrospect and some one here can relate what happened if they had to go through it.  Anyone?  Short of Nuclear war I can't think of anything worse than what happened 4 years ago,.

Edited March 11 by BecciBoo

[LobsterStalker]

1 hour ago, NJ&Ozzie said:

 

Guess we're more concerned about what if we are stuck on the ship or in a foreign country.  

Cheers

 

Cheers

Edited March 11 by LobsterStalker

[steveru621]

19 hours ago, NJ&Ozzie said:

 

Guess we're more concerned about what if we are stuck on the ship or in a foreign country.  

 

We were in Sydney, Australia on Radiance 4 years ago when COVID-19 hit.  They kicked us off the ship and all we got was a goodbye.

 

We got a hotel and flight back to the US.

 

You always need to have active reservation apps with personal accounts on your cell phone or laptop.  Make sure you have Google Maps and Translate installed.  Always carry at least 2 credit cards with a large credit line. It could be anything your imagination can conjure up, including a medical emergency.  Don't forget travel insurance.

 

We are not concerned about a travel interruption, but we are always prepared for it.

 

 

[njkruzer]

19 minutes ago, steveru621 said:

 

We were in Sydney, Australia on Radiance 4 years ago when COVID-19 hit.  They kicked us off the ship and all we got was a goodbye.

 

We got a hotel and flight back to the US.

 

You always need to have active reservation apps with personal accounts on your cell phone or laptop.  Make sure you have Google Maps and Translate installed.  Always carry at least 2 credit cards with a large credit line. It could be anything your imagination can conjure up, including a medical emergency.  Don't forget travel insurance.

 

We are not concerned about a travel interruption, but we are always prepared for it.

 

 

We were also there.  We had the choice to leave that evening or the next day.  Had no problem making hotel reservations for that night.  Ate dinner before we got off. Cabin attendant helped us with our luggage and walked us to a taxi.  At the hotel booked a 2nd night.  Following morning booked our flights home.  Change fees were about $85 each.  No big deal.  On our day in Sydney took a tour, had a nice dinner.   Agree about apps on your phone and credit cards.  Be ready to be flexible. 

[greeneng]

Small world.  We were also on the full circumnavigation which ended on March 14, 2020 in Sydney.  That B2B began on February 9 and in that time the world changed.  The only change in the cruises was that we were not allowed to disembark in Bali, but the news got grimmer every day.  We were on the Radiance this past October with Capt. Marek, who had the second leg of the circumnavigation and had to deal with the cancellation of the following cruises.  We had some interesting conversation about the events of that day.

We had a flight booked for March 15 so we went to the airport and stayed the night of 3/14 at the Rydges hotel right there.  The connection was in LAX and there was no indication of a problem there.  At the hotel we heard that the next Radiance cruise was cancelled and everyone was told to leave the ship.  Flights from Sydney to the USA officially ended a few days later but I never heard of anyone being stranded in Australia.  Our return went as scheduled but a lot of people had to scramble.

 

 

 

[njkruzer]

We were supposed to stay on for the 3rd cruise to NZ.  That was the one that was cancelled. 

[AandBmom]

My feeling on this is that you can't live thinking what if. You need to just go ahead and live life and if something causes you to Pivot along the way and change plans than you do it. Regarding the pandemic, it was worldwide enough that people were able to cancel their booking and rebook down the road. Our family was supposed to cruise the week everything shut down. When we did rebook we got a much better rate and we were given $3,000 of onboard credit. We were still able to enjoy the vacation that we booked just at a later time

[tennislvr8]

On 3/10/2024 at 5:21 PM, NJ&Ozzie said:

Hey All,

 

Looking to book a couple of back to back cruises in mid-April with some friends from Canada. There is so much talk in the news about things going on in the world right now (any number of possible scenarios).  There is concern about what would happen in the case of a sudden "event" outside of our control.

 

If we go ahead and book - how can we prepare?  Should we even be concerned?  

 

Appreciate any thoughts.  Thanks!

April of 2024 as in next month?  We have two cruises booked this year and two for next year. If you are truly that worried don’t go. 

[ONECRUISER]

On 3/11/2024 at 11:30 AM, steveru621 said:

 

We were in Sydney, Australia on Radiance 4 years ago when COVID-19 hit.  They kicked us off the ship and all we got was a goodbye.

 

We got a hotel and flight back to the US.

 

You always need to have active reservation apps with personal accounts on your cell phone or laptop.  Make sure you have Google Maps and Translate installed.  Always carry at least 2 credit cards with a large credit line. It could be anything your imagination can conjure up, including a medical emergency.  Don't forget travel insurance.

 

We are not concerned about a travel interruption, but we are always prepared for it.

 

 

Though was Land Travel at a Caribbean Resort friend of mine was flying home on 9/12/2001. 9/11 Happened, Airlines shutdown and he was stuck there for extra 12days before able get back. The Resort didnt charge him a penny for anything inc the Rooms for those extra Days. I got Lucky, off a Cruise taking a Redeye landing at 630am and getting home @8am on 9/11. Was me and my 3 Kids, 4, 6 & 10yrs old. After getting off the Ship and having a long day at Airport we almost stayed at Hotel and take Flight the next day.. Glad didn't as we would have been stuck in Florida