Is anyone actually booking new cruise holidays now?

[tgh]

Sydney Hobart race not guaranteed to to run and most Tas summer festivals canceled or scaled back.

Plus with El Niño, it might be rainy

Weeeeell I was really just exercising my imagination a tad...
The attraction of a ship like this is that even when the wether is cough, we are warm ,snug , well fed and well lubricated to withstand the elements.
Expedition ships send their supplicants into all sorts of wild and interesting little places that ordinary folks tend to miss.
Swmbo , however, is going nowhere until a vaccine arrives and works… so any ambition on my part is a solo exercise… with a 14 day return quarantine perhaps….

 

[VPS]

Aren't we in a La Nina and not El Nino

 

[RooFlyer]

Aren't we in a La Nina and not El Nino

Eeek ... yes. My mistake It's the wet one.

 

[JohnPhelan]

In a word - yes. I’ve just this week booked a cruise for December 2021.

 

[Mattg]

In a word - yes. I’ve just this week booked a cruise for December 2021.

May I ask what made you decide to do that?

(Not judging - just interested.)

 

[Port Power]

May I ask what made you decide to do that?

(Not judging - just interested.)

I’m not who you asked the question of, but I have also booked a future cruise, so will answer for information.
I have booked a cruise for February 2022. All Australian ports. By then I think we should have measures firmly in place and different onboard practises. This particular cruise because it is a ship on my bucket list. Otherwise any future cruising I intend to stick to my preferred small ships with <800 passengers. Definitely I would not consider cruising on the big ships (2,000 passengers or more) and/or in Europe or USA/Caribbean before 2022. I’d not even make a booking on a small ship international cruise until there is a vaccine or clear record of safe cruising.

 

[woodyren]

Yes we have a number of RCL cruise bookings made for the Med, a Trans Atlantic and then a Caribbean cruise booked for October, November 2021. Because I had a cancelled Trans Atlantic cruise for this year I tagged a few extra cruises on either side. I have a number of 125% cruise credits I needed to use and added to that the fact that the ones I needed to pay a deposit on that deposit was a relatively low $400. We went ahead with our optimistic plans utilising a few of the cruise line options of lifting and shifting from a cruise booked this year to lock in lower prices on next years cruises.

Have a visit to the Maldives booked on the way to Rome in September as well.

Have also booked a few J award flights to Maldives and Rome with my stack of KrisFlyer points that I luckily transferred from Velocity just prior to the tap being turned off.

Probably only risking less than $2000 even if things go completely pear shaped.

I agree the chances are low that these plans will go ahead but I am prepared to take the risk. I don't need to commit any more cash till late July/Aug next year.

 

[JohnPhelan]

May I ask what made you decide to do that?

(Not judging - just interested.)

Sure. For a few reasons, actually. Firstly, because I think by the end of next year we will either: (a) have a vaccine or an effective treatment; or (b) have decided that the world cannot be on indefinite hiatus and everything will have been opened back up. (Yes, obviously with precautions and procedures to live normal life but as safely as possible).

Secondly, I am using a future cruise credit (110% of the money paid for the original voyage) from a booking that was cancelled when all of this broke out (original cruise was scheduled for April this year), so I think I'm getting a good deal.

Thirdly, this cruise involves only Australia and New Zealand, which I think will be fine long before then.

Fourthly, the broader perspective is that we all need to support airlines, hotels, cruises - the whole travel industry - as much as we possibly can by making future bookings. People need jobs and we cannot allow these industries to wither on the vine and plunge millions of people around the world into unemployment and poverty.

 

[Mattg]

Sure. For a few reasons, actually. Firstly, because I think by the end of next year we will either: (a) have a vaccine or an effective treatment; or (b) have decided that the world cannot be on indefinite hiatus and everything will have been opened back up. (Yes, obviously with precautions and procedures to live normal life but as safely as possible).

Secondly, I am using a future cruise credit (110% of the money paid for the original voyage) from a booking that was cancelled when all of this broke out (original cruise was scheduled for April this year), so I think I'm getting a good deal.

Thirdly, the broader perspective is that we all need to support airlines, hotels, cruises - the whole travel industry - as much as we possibly can by making future bookings. People need jobs and we cannot allow these industries to wither on the vine and plunge millions of people around the world into unemployment and poverty.

All quite valid points.

Do you think you would have invested new money into booking the same cruise for next year if you didn't have that travel credit to spend?

 

[JohnPhelan]

I heard on tv recently that once Australian cruises are a definite goer, they are going to book out really quickly!

When Cunard announced early in the year that Queen Elizabeth was going to extend its season and do new cruises around Australia and NZ in March and April 2020 (when it had originally planned to be in Japan), there was a phenomenal take-up rate. Some of the cruises (especially the circumnavigation of Australia) sold out within days. There is a big appetite for cruises in Australia/NZ, which I expect will restart long before other destinations do.

Post automatically merged: Oct 22, 2020

All quite valid points.

Do you think you would have invested new money into booking the same cruise for next year if you didn't have that travel credit to spend?

Yes I did - you can't use the future credit for the deposit, so I paid around $400 of new money as a deposit.

 

[ExpeditionCruiser]

Well we have booked a cruise for next year.Out of Geraldton.
Blame @JohnM for polluting mrsdrron's mind with tales of crayfish.

Are you headed out to the Abrolhos Islands for a few days with Eco Abrolhos Cruises? That's a great little trip.

More generally, there's a heap of enquiry for cruises in the Kimberley next year (although it's getting close sold out with the deferrals from this year and normal demand) and 2022 sales are now well underway... Here's hoping there's an open border to WA come March.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

Are you headed out to the Abrolhos Islands for a few days with Eco Abrolhos Cruises? That's a great little trip.
More generally, there's a heap of enquiry for cruises in the Kimberley next year (although it's getting close sold out with the deferrals from this year and normal demand) and 2022 sales are now well underway... Here's hoping there's an open border to WA come March.

If WA is not open in 2021 you can kiss tourism goodbye, how can the Margaret River, Geraldton, Broome survive just on locals ??

We did the Kimberley in 2009, we started cruising in 2008, and have cruised every year since then ..... up to 2020

 

[Daver6]

If WA is not open in 2021 you can kiss tourism goodbye, how can the Margaret River, Geraldton, Broome survive just on locals ??

We did the Kimberley in 2009, we started cruising in 2008, and have cruised every year since then ..... up to 2020

Given the locals cant go anywhere else, they're booming!

 

[jakeseven7]

Given the locals cant go anywhere else, they're booming!

Perhaps in some regions, at some times but overall unfortunately they are not.

In Perth they are even harder hit with some hotels completely closed.

 

[Port Power]

If WA is not open in 2021 you can kiss tourism goodbye, how can the Margaret River, Geraldton, Broome survive just on locals ??

We did the Kimberley in 2009, we started cruising in 2008, and have cruised every year since then ..... up to 2020

Those Abrolhos cruises are excellent, so you can still enjoy cruising. And isn’t there one by a local operator off the Queensland coast now?

As for the cruise companies opening bookings for March next year such as JohnPhelan above states, there is no firm decision yet that Australia will allow cruise ships by then. Even if they do, I think it doubtful they can bring international passengers who will then have to go into lockdown for 14 days. Not what a holiday maker wants! Also intense cleaning of the ship before embarkation.

I have future hopes for cruising, but I wouldn’t book the first half of next year until all has been clarified. Nor the end of next year for that matter.

 

[OZDUCK]

Those Abrolhos cruises are excellent, so you can still enjoy cruising. And isn’t there one by a local operator off the Queensland coast now?

As for the cruise companies opening bookings for March next year such as JohnPhelan above states, there is no firm decision yet that Australia will allow cruise ships by then. Even if they do, I think it doubtful they can bring international passengers who will then have to go into lockdown for 14 days. Not what a holiday maker wants! Also intense cleaning of the ship before embarkation.

I have future hopes for cruising, but I wouldn’t book the first half of next year until all has been clarified. Nor the end of next year for that matter.

And if those cruise ships don't berth in a foreign port on the voyage then it will be a "domestic trip" so all alcohol, bunker fuel etc consumed on board will require payment of Duty/GST thus increasing prices on board.

 

[Port Power]

And if those cruise ships don't berth in a foreign port on the voyage then it will be a "domestic trip" so all alcohol, bunker fuel etc consumed on board will require payment of Duty/GST thus increasing prices on board.

Yes, these are definitely domestic trips, and within one state, hence the ability to take place. Very small ships, so they are priced accordingly, although they are usually all inclusive of drinks and tours. The Abrolhos ones are good value nevertheless; Kimberley cruises more luxurious and more expensive.

 

[Pushka]

We just did. On Viking. Passage to India for October next year. Viking has restarted river and Ocean cruises for quite some time now.

 

[VPS]

I'm thinking about this one

Literature Festival at Sea 2022 | Times Expert Traveller | Times Expert Traveller

Join world-renowned writers and journalists from The Times and The Sunday Times as you embark on a transatlantic crossing on Cunard’s iconic Queen Mary 2.

www.thetimes.co.uk

 

[VPS]

We just did. On Viking. Passage to India for October next year. Viking has restarted river and Ocean cruises for quite some time now.

That looks really interesting