Been There, Planning That

Or more accurately stayed 'apart' to combat COVID. Why the other day I imagined cars 'socially distancing' as they neared a stop -- rather like any good Canadian during the winter. Ruth

413 and even then not overly optimistic either it or we will sail.

It took us both a partial and full transit as inspiration to finally finish one great but long book. We were as well prepared as the commentators on both HAL and Princess in the end. Ruth

We cancelled both an August and February '21 cruise early March with only deposits of $780 each owing so these were straight forward refunds. One deposit was refunded this week but we have no way of confirming which one, though I assume it was for the August cruise. Ruth

Nice try but even Canadian passport holders must do their 14 day sentence in self isolation! And I don't think camping would count. 🤤 Otherwise we'd love to have you visit. Ruth

After decades of independent travels around the world, often staying in three star hotels where little English was spoken, we have reluctantly graduated to the stage of life and mobility issues where we need to keep things easy, and convenient and therefore much more expensive. After independent travels our next step was bus specialized tours where others arranged everything. Then river cruising and the comfort of one unpacking and great tours. We're now at the hand-holding cruise hotel and ship excursion stage and are content. We agree, cruise line hotels are usually chains either at airports or well away from city centres and pricier than on line. But our goal is to enjoy a couple of nights pre cruise in warmth and sunshine. We manage on usually expensive and limited hotel dining. I should add we started travelling in the early 60s long before the ease of internet searches. Ruth

In this case I for one prefer to defer to our medical professionals who put our health first whereas politicians are more concerned with their political health as they do their bit to protect citizens.

We cancelled two cruises with $750 deposits each on March 15. One was to sail late August and the other February 2021. Subsequently HAL cancelled all Alaskan cruises which would have been our August sailing. I had first cancelled almost $2 000 in paid shore excursions and this money was promptly returned. Unlike so many we feel fortunate that just deposits had been made and not full payments. Fearing that refunds were being handed out in order of sail dates we went the CC route to ensure refunds which were made promptly by CC. Ruth

And when it's safe we'd sure LOVE to have you visit us. Ruth

I'd beg to differ and say we are spooked and I'm happy to live with spooks until this pandemic is defeated or at least controlled. Ruth

I agree that it is not doing well at all. Ruth

Better than Ontario at this point. Ruth

We declined this offer for our August '21 cruise and are content to have just a down payment invested until things settle down. In fact we rec'd it twice, once linked to our specific cruise and again as a general offer. Ruth

We too hope our August '21 17 day cruise will safely happen. Ruth

In an excess of senior's caution we have already cancelled our booked 21 day cruise for February '21. We hope we've marked a secure place in the deposit return line-up for this cruise. Everything's too uncertain for our "peace of cruising minds'. Ruth