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Will cruises get cancelled this year

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    #62
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    cee_jay wrote: »
    Royal Caribbean have announced an enhanced cruise with confidence program - so can now cancel my cruise departing end November, and I will receive future cruise credit which is valid up to Dec 31 2021.
    They have also added a "Best Price Guarantee" and "Lift and Shift"

    https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-with-confidence

    We only have a deposit paid so far, going to give the travel agent a buzz this week to see what our options are. I would love to do the cruise (it was our first time, for a significant birthday), but unsure if the Lift and Shift will work for us as the itinerary we have isn't running at the same time next year. There is a similar itinerary for number of nights and countries, but the ports are different - we would happily do the new one, but it looks to cost an extra €700 per person than what we paid.

    Congratulations. I hope ye have a great time. Keep up to date with Sheri on CruiseTipsTV and Gary Bembridge on tips for Travellers on Youtube.
    There are tough times ahead for the industry to survive the next two years.


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    #63
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    Have any of ye seen the Virgin "Scarlet Lady"? What an eye sore.
    They are offering 200% cruise credit for cancellations.
    Money wouldnt pay me to be on it. Ben and David the Youtubers sold out and gave it great reviews.

    Norwegian are issuing extra shares and have raised $4Bn capital to carry them through at 12%.
    They are great businesses but grounding an air plane like Ryanair and mothballing a ship arent the same thing. The ships have to be at sea because of docking port costs and they need to be run with constant maintenance.

    RCC Boss Fiennes has been making Youtube videos from his home about what the future will look like post-pandemic. I have to see that yet.


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    #64
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 2,078 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    skooterblue2 wrote: »
    There will be no vaccine within 4 years. The virus changes so rapidly.

    Not true. Coronaviruses are genetically very stable compared to influenza viruses. And the "different strains" story doing the rounds is about very tiny differences in DNA, not wholesale changes like influenza or HIV. Now maybe it will take 4 years, or never come, but it won't be because of the virus changing rapidly.


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    #65
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    Deleted User wrote: »
    Not true. Coronaviruses are genetically very stable compared to influenza viruses. And the "different strains" story doing the rounds is about very tiny differences in DNA, not wholesale changes like influenza or HIV. Now maybe it will take 4 years, or never come, but it won't be because of the virus changing rapidly.

    I think we would be better off waiting for the Virus to run its natural course. There is no way you would get me within an asses roar of a vaccine that has been rushed through like the Swine and Avain ones.


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    #66
    hots
    Registered Users Posts: 5,200 ✭✭✭hots


    skooterblue2 wrote: »
    Have any of ye seen the Virgin "Scarlet Lady"? What an eye sore.
    They are offering 200% cruise credit for cancellations.
    Money wouldnt pay me to be on it. Ben and David the Youtubers sold out and gave it great reviews.

    What don't you like about it? Looks cool enough to me.


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    #67
    munstergirl
    Registered Users Posts: 771 ✭✭✭munstergirl


    I can't see cruise ships back in business anytime soon even 2021 they are still sending their crew home by cruise ship all over the world at the moment. If cruises so go ahead in August where will they get the crew from?
    Also there has been 4 suicides in last 10 days onboard different ships. Rest in peace.

    Where will these cruises go? What country is going to want to let a cruise ship dock with thousands of passengers mainly from USA?

    Mixing lots of different nationalities onboard, some countries doing a good job trying to control coronavirus, some not so good. It would be impossible to social isolate on ship.

    Even if they check people for coronavirus, you might not have symptoms starting cruise but develop symptoms during cruise. Plus most cruises you have to fly to get there. Even if no-one has covid on ship, what's to stop them getting infected in one of the ports.

    It's not looking good for cruise ship industry at the moment and lots of new huge ships ment to be launched this year.


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    #68
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    hots wrote: »
    What don't you like about it? Looks cool enough to me.

    Firstly its very pricy for minimal furnishings.
    Have you seen the size of the pool?!?!?!?
    The RED everywhere drives my anxiety mad.
    Complaints about dimensions from larger cruisers.

    I would give it a hard pass in favour of older ships from more established cruise lines. I think with the exception of "Emma Cruises" on youtube, they all gave it stellar ratings despite the obvious short comings


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    #69
    gooseygander
    Registered Users Posts: 317 ✭✭gooseygander


    Just about to press go on booking a cruise after Christmas from Florida to Bahamas, am I crazy ?


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    #70
    Annabella1
    Registered Users Posts: 637 ✭✭✭Annabella1


    No vaccine ever invented for malaria/HIV
    Who knows where we are with Corona
    Gonna take a long time to manufacture billions of vaccines
    HCW and the elderly will rightly be first in the queue
    3-5 years for a cruise(?) Sorry..


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    #71
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    gooseygander wrote: »
    Just about to press go on booking a cruise after Christmas from Florida to Bahamas, am I crazy ?
    Just get yourself some good insurance so you're not out of pocket if it's cancelled.

    Cruising will change; you'll find decent offers because fewer people want to do it, and in the short term there will be restrictions about when and where you'll be permitted to disembark. Someone countries will allow it once the ship has been following certain guidelines, others won't at all.

    As time trundles on and the worldwide capacity to test for Covid increases, it'll be possible to do things like having people tested the day before they board, and intermittently throughout their journey, with strict and effective procedures in place for positive tests.


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    #72
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    Annabella1 wrote: »
    No vaccine ever invented for malaria/HIV
    Who knows where we are with Corona
    Gonna take a long time to manufacture billions of vaccines
    HCW and the elderly will rightly be first in the queue
    3-5 years for a cruise(?) Sorry..

    Malaria could be wiped out but there is no will power to do it. It was done in Panama in two short years bu the US Army pouring oil over the stagnant water surfaces. There is too much money in HIV to attempt to develop a vaccine (£18kpa per patient). Its all good business.

    Develop and manufacture are two different things.
    Develop a vaccine is the hard part, manufacture could be done in weeks.
    I believe the virus will have run its course in 3 years more.
    Tough times are ahead for everyone.


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    #73
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    gooseygander wrote: »
    Just about to press go on booking a cruise after Christmas from Florida to Bahamas, am I crazy ?

    Yeah, I can see us still in lock down in the second wave. Also there will be another Stock market collapse in October November.

    Keep your powder dry and invest immediately after the collapse.


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    #74
    punisher5112
    Registered Users Posts: 24,647 ✭✭✭✭punisher5112


    gooseygander wrote: »
    Just about to press go on booking a cruise after Christmas from Florida to Bahamas, am I crazy ?

    I would honestly hold off until you know what the world is going to be like.....

    There are cruise ships sitting out at sea with 100s of staff stranded on these as they can't dock anywhere as the amount of them and size....

    These ships aren't designed to be sitting up and taking on storms as they are at the moment, I'd be staying well clear for a while as could you imagine what it will be like especially staff that are worn out and most likely worried and depressed and so on....

    If you have me an all expenses paid one and I honestly wouldn't go the way the world is right now.... No chance


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    #75
    Lex Luthor
    Registered Users Posts: 11,220 ✭✭✭✭Lex Luthor


    skooterblue2 wrote: »
    Yeah, I can see us still in lock down in the second wave. Also there will be another Stock market collapse in October November.

    Keep your powder dry and invest immediately after the collapse.

    another stock market crash is emminent, but probably after elections rather than before


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    #76
    Lex Luthor
    Registered Users Posts: 11,220 ✭✭✭✭Lex Luthor


    gooseygander wrote: »
    Just about to press go on booking a cruise after Christmas from Florida to Bahamas, am I crazy ?

    I wouldnt


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    #77
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    Lex Luthor wrote: »
    another stock market crash is emminent, but probably after elections rather than before

    You can see the war going on, The Federal reserve are printing money to cover up this collapse which will compound the problem and the markets are due to collapse deeper which will result in a deeper mess. Its not going to be pretty


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    #78
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    munstergirl wrote: »
    I can't see cruise ships back in business anytime soon even 2021 they are still sending their crew home by cruise ship all over the world at the moment. If cruises so go ahead in August where will they get the crew from?
    Also there has been 4 suicides in last 10 days onboard different ships. Rest in peace.

    Where will these cruises go? What country is going to want to let a cruise ship dock with thousands of passengers mainly from USA?

    Mixing lots of different nationalities onboard, some countries doing a good job trying to control coronavirus, some not so good. It would be impossible to social isolate on ship.

    Even if they check people for coronavirus, you might not have symptoms starting cruise but develop symptoms during cruise. Plus most cruises you have to fly to get there. Even if no-one has covid on ship, what's to stop them getting infected in one of the ports.

    It's not looking good for cruise ship industry at the moment and lots of new huge ships ment to be launched this year.

    Hospitality staff are easily recruited and disposed of, one of the pluses and downsides of the industry. There are people dying every day on cruise ships, you never hear about it because the staff never tell you. Over what period and how many cruises ships did this happen? I would say it is slightly more than average.

    I dont think working on cruise ships is great for your mental health as you are always on call and no matter hard to try it is almost impossible to get alone time. You almost always a death on a ship and one or two heart attacks, family friend is a nurse onboard. I would do three weeks back to back no problem, after the euphoria..... I could see it getting depressing.

    Ships have to pay massive fees to dock relative to how long they dock for. Of course the port authorities want them back.


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    #79
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,138 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    gooseygander wrote: »
    Just about to press go on booking a cruise after Christmas from Florida to Bahamas, am I crazy ?

    I would be very wary of anything at the moment involving large numbers of Americans. Their policy seems to be just to let the virus run unchecked.


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    #80
    Thoie
    Registered Users Posts: 6,344 ✭✭✭Thoie


    I'm in a lot of cruising groups/forums in various places, and it looks at the moment that it could be November this year at the earliest before cruises start up again (though that's all just hearsay). There's a lot of talk among crew and admins about how cruising will change - temperature checks etc, but without a vaccine I probably won't be booking one. The changes they're talking about would, for me as a solo traveler, probably change my decision to cruise. Generally traveling alone I like to eat breakfast/lunch alone, and find quiet corners to read etc. But I also enjoy sharing a table at dinner with other people, and the odd conversations that start up in the bars/by the pool.

    I'm not sure what transmission rates in swimming pools are like, but I doubt they'd be great places to spend time. If they introduce physical distancing in dining rooms etc, it's unlikely that a solo traveler would be "allowed" join other groups for meals.

    I'd definitely be booking a balcony when/if I next go cruising - on the off chance that I did end up in a quarantine situation, having a balcony would definitely make things easier.


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    #81
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    Thoie wrote: »
    I'm not sure what transmission rates in swimming pools are like, but I doubt they'd be great places to spend time.

    I'd definitely be booking a balcony when/if I next go cruising - on the off chance that I did end up in a quarantine situation, having a balcony would definitely make things easier.

    If you like swimming pools then you are going to Lurve the hot tubs dotted around the lido deck. My wife calls them "human pot noodles". I think you only live once. We often go to our graves worrying about what we didnt do rather than the things we did do.

    I would be happy with an inside double room as long as it wasnt over the engine room or under the night club, but I could see the advantage of it in a pandemic. I used to wake up at 7am every morning and look out though the mist to see the first glimpse of the next island we were going to dock at that morning.


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    #82
    725b
    Registered Users Posts: 75 ✭✭725b


    I booked our second cruise with Trailfinders on Celebrity for a Caribbean Cruise with two nights in Miami for April of this year.Obviuosly cancelled ,Celebrity refunded me the Shore excursions within two days of the cancellation and Trailfinders refunded in full after a couple of weeks(cash refund).I will be booking another cruise in the future hopefully 2021 when all this dies down with Trailfinders find them absolutely brilliant to deal with hope this helps anyone worried about getting refunds.


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    #83
    owlbethere
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,329 ✭✭✭owlbethere


    Still in limbo about my cruise holidays. The travel agents is still working on holiday cases for this summer so they will get around to us at some stage in June or July.

    From reading these boards, I get a sense that some European countries want to get back on track quickly regarding opening up their economies and get travel and tourism going again. I read on the main virus section on boards that Spain will be open for holidays by July.

    I'm not comfortable going away on holidays this year at all. If it comes to it, I would nearly prefer to lose my deposit but I'm travelling with my partner and I don't want him to lose his deposit.


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    #84
    Gael23
    Registered Users Posts: 12,090 ✭✭✭✭Gael23


    If any cruise operators survive Covid 19 then it’s proof that miracles do happen.


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    #85
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    Gael23 wrote: »
    If any cruise operators survive Covid 19 then it’s proof that miracles do happen.

    Why do you say that?
    The cruise ships were running on full capacity for the last few years. They say they can run profitably on 30% occupancy when they were running at 110% booking for the last few years, with no last minute bargains. They were buying liqour at bulk tax free rates, they were hiring staff at well below any minimum wage and their gaming is unregulated. No permanent staff and good share price. Why wouldnt you believe any of the big four companies will see this to the other side?


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    #86
    Albert12
    Registered Users Posts: 9 ✭Albert12


    Have any of ye seen the Virgin "Scarlet Lady"? What an eye sore.
    They are offering 200% cruise credit for cancellations.
    Money wouldnt pay me to be on it. Ben and David the Youtubers sold out and gave it great reviews.

    Norwegian are issuing extra shares and have raised $4Bn capital to carry them through at 12%.
    They are great businesses but grounding an air plane like Ryanair and mothballing a ship arent the same thing. The ships have to be at sea because of docking port costs and they need to be run with constant maintenance.

    RCC Boss Fiennes has been making Youtube videos from his home about what the future will look like post-pandemic. I have to see that yet.


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    #87
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Albert12 wrote: »
    Have any of ye seen the Virgin "Scarlet Lady"? What an eye sore.
    They are offering 200% cruise credit for cancellations.
    Money wouldnt pay me to be on it. Ben and David the Youtubers sold out and gave it great reviews.

    Norwegian are issuing extra shares and have raised $4Bn capital to carry them through at 12%.
    They are great businesses but grounding an air plane like Ryanair and mothballing a ship arent the same thing. The ships have to be at sea because of docking port costs and they need to be run with constant maintenance.

    RCC Boss Fiennes has been making Youtube videos from his home about what the future will look like post-pandemic. I have to see that yet.

    I would say the insurance companies will suffer greatly as well,alot of the cruiseships are covered by the marine liability insurance,but that also means higher future insurance for the cruise liners.


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    #88
    titan18
    Registered Users Posts: 11,935 ✭✭✭✭titan18


    skooterblue2 wrote: »
    Hospitality staff are easily recruited and disposed of, one of the pluses and downsides of the industry. There are people dying every day on cruise ships, you never hear about it because the staff never tell you. Over what period and how many cruises ships did this happen? I would say it is slightly more than average.

    I dont think working on cruise ships is great for your mental health as you are always on call and no matter hard to try it is almost impossible to get alone time. You almost always a death on a ship and one or two heart attacks, family friend is a nurse onboard. I would do three weeks back to back no problem, after the euphoria..... I could see it getting depressing.

    Ships have to pay massive fees to dock relative to how long they dock for. Of course the port authorities want them back.

    That part isn't necessarily true. I'm seeing a lot of places making noises about banning cruise ships as the people onboard often spend very little and make it worse for other tourists staying in the city due to overtourism.


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    #89
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    Albert12 wrote: »
    Have any of ye seen the Virgin "Scarlet Lady"? What an eye sore.
    They are offering 200% cruise credit for cancellations.
    Money wouldnt pay me to be on it. Ben and David the Youtubers sold out and gave it great reviews.

    Norwegian are issuing extra shares and have raised $4Bn capital to carry them through at 12%.
    They are great businesses but grounding an air plane like Ryanair and mothballing a ship arent the same thing. The ships have to be at sea because of docking port costs and they need to be run with constant maintenance.

    RCC Boss Fiennes has been making Youtube videos from his home about what the future will look like post-pandemic. I have to see that yet.

    Those were my thoughts exactly.

    The "Scarlet Lady" is only one ship in hundreds of cruises, I wouldnt be caught dead on it dont base all ships on one disaster. Did you get a look at the pool? Did you see all the Red? You would need a year to re model that ship to make it presentable. As for those pair of muppets, give them a few grand and they will say anything. However Emma Cruises slatted the whole ship on every level and Virgin made her take down the bad review.

    Those ships are burning money running engines and staff with no income. They must have been doing well because Royal Caribbean said they could run with 33% occupancy.


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    #90
    punisher5112
    Registered Users Posts: 24,647 ✭✭✭✭punisher5112


    I'd say if you were staff stuck on them now, they'll need treatment for the rest of their lives....


    Shocking business model.., fcuk the tycoons


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    #91
    skooterblue2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭skooterblue2


    punisher5112 wrote: »

    Shocking business model.., fcuk the tycoons CDC

    FYP ..... Its the CDC that wont allow the staff to rotate.


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