Carnival to resume limited domestic cruises on August 1

[ivinsfan]

But don't worry they are committed to following public health guidelines and the safety of their passengers and crew is their number one concern.


Anyone ready to book?

 

[wmc1000]

Sail on past me!

 

[samm]

No way. I do not trust Carnival. Plus, their new ships are too big and thus too risky.

The newest "Mardi Gras", sailing from Florida this year on its maiden voyage, has passenger capacity of 6630 and is planned to have about 1700-1800 crew. Up to 8400 people on the ship and if one person has Covid19 it is sure to spread...possibly leading to the ship being prevented from returning to port. Maybe rename it the "ship of fools"?

 

[cathy63]

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I'm not particularly afraid of getting sick on a cruise. Looking at the overall infection and death rates, it was much more dangerous to be in New Orleans this year than to take a cruise, and I'm not ruling out future visits to NOLa. I'm sure there are many more places that are also at least as dangerous as a ship, including just about every nursing home and every European city that relies on mass transit, not to mention NYC.

I am somewhat worried about getting quarantined for several weeks in a tiny cabin though, so I think the big things I need to know are not how they're going to prevent respiratory illnesses (which they can't), but how they're going to guarantee that ships are always allowed to return to their home ports and what provisions they have made for those who have been exposed to quarantinable illnesses. If those questions are answered to my satisfaction, then I'd consider a cruise if the itinerary was interesting enough. I think I'm pretty unlikely to find a "limited domestic" itinerary that would be interesting enough, so it's probably a moot point anyway.

 

[Helen]

I wonder how much evacuation insurance will cost?

 

[pacergal]

No.
At some point, we thought about cruising the Mississippi, around Hawaii, and some of the rivers in Europe.
Cruising is no longer a thought. Not sure flying anywhere will be for a long time, either.

 

[RobbieB]

I agree. That's why we'll be driving.

 

[Dtail]

If there is a vaccination already under deployment, does that change any folks opinions?

 

[gayl]

I've got 3 booked but on Princess. I had 3 cancelled due to Covid. Fairly sure 2 will happen (4/2021 & 6/2021) less than sure about 9/2020 but holding out hope. Those ports have opened.

Of the 3 cancelled ones:
1. Majestic Princess Asia transferred payment to Sky Transatlantic (went from 14 days balcony to 15 days mini-suite)
2. Grand Princess March 22nd cashed out
3. Grand Princess March 29th paid for Enchanted Transatlantic & Ruby Alaska (went from 7 days to 26 days. All balconies, but now with gratuities / beverages / wifi)

 

[Doribe]

No.
At some point, we thought about cruising the Mississippi, around Hawaii, and some of the rivers in Europe.
Cruising is no longer a thought. Not sure flying anywhere will be for a long time, either.

+1

 

[GravitySucks]

I've only been on a couple cruises. One was Carnival and it was not great. Way to many children for a relaxing experience.
They had a late night self serve taco bar that was frightening watching the drunk passenger paw through - I ate at Chinese buffets often, and used to bring mom to Old Country Buffett but this was just disgusting to watch.
Pass, but might do a cruise next winter.

 

[Ronstar]

The only cruise I’m going on will be on my kayak.

 

[Nemo2]

If our two Pullmantur back-to-backs in October are running, we will,
Inshallah, be on them.

But Carnival, or any Caribbean cruise.....pass.

 

[TrvlBug]

But don't worry they are committed to following public health guidelines and the safety of their passengers and crew is their number one concern.


Anyone ready to book?

Anyone who believes this should read WSJ article/expose. I believe it was in Saturday's (Friday?) edition. Bean counters now ruling the roost anyone?

If it weren't for DH really wanting to go on Alaska land/cruise as well as Russia river cruise, I would never set foot on a cruise ship again.

 

[Independent]

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I'm not particularly afraid of getting sick on a cruise. Looking at the overall infection and death rates, it was much more dangerous to be in New Orleans this year than to take a cruise, and I'm not ruling out future visits to NOLa. I'm sure there are many more places that are also at least as dangerous as a ship, including just about every nursing home and every European city that relies on mass transit, not to mention NYC.

I am somewhat worried about getting quarantined for several weeks in a tiny cabin though, so I think the big things I need to know are not how they're going to prevent respiratory illnesses (which they can't), but how they're going to guarantee that ships are always allowed to return to their home ports and what provisions they have made for those who have been exposed to quarantinable illnesses. If those questions are answered to my satisfaction, then I'd consider a cruise if the itinerary was interesting enough. I think I'm pretty unlikely to find a "limited domestic" itinerary that would be interesting enough, so it's probably a moot point anyway.

+1

I was scheduled on a March 14 Carnival sailing. I cancelled on March 11. I wasn't terribly concerned about catching the virus on the ship. I knew that other people were cancelling and the ship wouldn't be close to full.

BUT, if one other person had a diagnosis before we disembarked, we'd all be stuck on indefinitely. That was a much bigger concern than getting sick.

 

[Chuckanut]

Even if the ship is safe, what do you do when every port within 1000 miles is scared to let the ship dock and won't let the passengers to leave? Or will the local pressure to turn on the cruise ship travel economy be to strong to resist? I don't know.

 

[Nemo2]

Even if the ship is safe, what do you do when every port within 1000 miles is scared to let the ship dock and won't let the passengers to leave?

Another of our concerns.....Israel is one of the countries, (DW's never been there), on our Fall itinerary...if they are (still) closed we will likely rethink.

 

[brewer12345]

Even if the ship is safe, what do you do when every port within 1000 miles is scared to let the ship dock and won't let the passengers to leave? Or will the local pressure to turn on the cruise ship travel economy be to strong to resist? I don't know.

Man the lifeboats and hole her below the waterline.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We have been on 6 cruises and love RC. Don’t know if we will ever take another one.

 

[leftyfrizzell1963]

We have a Royal Caribbean booked for 6/21 of this year. RC hasn't cancelled it yet and claims they are sailing starting 6/11. My family has already said, we will not go, and will rebook.

But ignoring the probability of getting sick for a bit, it seems they would need to consider many logistical things to re-start all their cruising: 1) Crew - did they all report back, and are they well? 2) supplies such as food - is it safe, will there be enough available? 3)Ports - will all the ports let us dock to do the excursions, and 4) most importantly, will they let us return to the scheduled return port if there has been an outbreak? I'm sure there are many other logistical issues that I am not aware of too.

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

They better get #4 in writing, signed by the mayor and governor.

 

[Amethyst]

Last year, we booked a North Seas cruise in August with Regent Seven Seas. Regent is only offering cruise credit, not refunds, so I'm considering exchanging the international cruise (and business class air) for two less-expensive domestic cruises later this year and early 2021. A big concern is how boring it's going to be with no onboard theater, canceled shore excursions, and limited to no access to the better onboard restaurants (which were very crowded last time we went).

 

[Packman]

We have a cruise booked on Princess in January and another European river cruise in July, '21. Not sure at this point about either. We love cruising and are so bummed that our cruising life might be done for at least a few years. What other vacations will there be? Don't want to fly as planes and airports are more packed than ships. Stay in a resort, nah, boring. Not even sure that hotels sound too appealing these days for driving trip .

 

[socca]

Anyone ready to book?

99.5% of cruises were unattractive to me prior to COVID-19. 99.8% of cruises will be unattractive to me after COVID-19. So, probably not.

 

[Dtail]

99.5% of cruises were unattractive to me prior to COVID-19. 99.8% of cruises will be unattractive to me after COVID-19. So, probably not.

Look for the 0.2% then.