CruisingAlong4Now

Never liked them. Never participated. Hope they're cancelled to keep corridors clear and quieter.

Thinking about a trip to Iceland next summer (2021). I looked at driving the ring road, but I only have 8-10 days and I don't want to have to pack and unpack alot. A cruise that circumnavigates Iceland would seem to fit the bill. Ocean Diamond does this as does the Hurtigruten MS Fridtjof Nansene, a ship similiar to the Roald Amundsen. Hurtigruten is a lot more money than the Ocean Diamond. Any suggestions or comments on these ideas?

Not my intent to demean Viking's business model or integrity. Merely stated a fact that Viking used this 2 for 1 business model for their river cruises. Their oft sent brochures touted 2 for 1. Hurry up and book now. It was the standard joke on the river cruise board. Don't know what your other points are.

One advantage of being retired during the lock down phase is that I can't get fired from my job. My pension and social security checks keep coming every month. Income is very stable.

Isn't this the business model that Viking used for years?

Checking the list of companies for whom bankruptcy/financial default is not covered by your travel insurance is one way to access risk.

So Seabourn didn't return your money? I'm confused on why you feel you can't trust them? Did they return your money?

Valid for four years sounds good.

Never heard of cornhole.

"I erased confirmation e mail as soon as the cruise showed up in my personalizer " Just a general comment on relying on a vendors databases. This is an example of a vendor changing their records after you have seen them. With so many of us getting e-bills and e-statements from banks, mortgage administrators, and other vendors, this is a cautionary tale. I recommend downloading the statements from your banks or other vendors and storing them on your backup media. This is especially true for financial records. You should at a minimum keep your year end statements sin

Not all cruise lines or ports require you to disembark on the turnover day. Another difference between B2B and a single cruise of the same duration is the turnover of people. On a B2B, some people leave at the end of the first cruise and new people join the cruise. If you like the first bunch of people and they leave after the first cruise, you might feel that you've lost your friends. On the other hand, if the first cruise has a bunch of loud boozers, you'll be happy to see the back of them and look forward to new people joining the cruise.

The major benefit for most people is that doing a B2B rather than two single 7 day cruises at different times means that they only have one RT flight. If you tend to cruise 7-day cruises and you do a B2B, you effectively have a 14 day cruise. There's nothing special about a two 7 day B2B compared to a 14 day cruise (although some cruise lines have a small discount for booking a B2B rather than two single 7 day cruises).

Yes I understand - huge proportion is a mass market.

I would find it boring to start and end at the same port. Why go someplace twice on the same trip? Crystal often runs their ships in a continuous run: eg Miami to Los Angeles to Brisbane to Hong Kong to Tokyo to somewhere else. You can sign up for a short segment or take longer cruises with the b2b of multiple segments.

This is appalling. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article243398711.html Sounds like all the passengers are on land. https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/final-cruise-ship-still-carrying-passengers-docks-in-germany-after-6-months-at-sea/