When do you think Azamara will resume Cruising?

[Grandma Cruising]

I’ve just read that the UK Foreign Office is now advising against any cruise ship travel.

[snowglobe]

19 hours ago, uktog said:

I think that reflects all I am hearing across several lines.  Looks like for most vessels it will be early 2021 and that is without a second spike.

From the Bloomberg article’s description of a cold lay-out, and how much will have to be done to put Journey and Pursuit back into service, it looks as if Quest may be the ship that will “test the waters” for Azamara, if the brand sails again.
 

Given winter conditions for  doing outside work, I can’t see Quest being put to sea from Glasgow again until Spring 2021. I can’t see corporate being able to market a thrown-together itinerary that stays close to where Quest is currently berthed, for later this year.

 

I certainly don’t see any several-days-at-sea itineraries or TA/TPs even happening in 2021 at all either... which *may* see all three ships back in the waters in 2021, but deployed in three different regional markets (maybe Europe, Asia, Australia?)... who knows...

 

The only certainty is that our world has now profoundly changed. C-19 is turning out to be a much broader ripple-causing change-maker event than 9/11. No way would I have even guessed 2020 would unfold like this, when I boarded the Journey back in January.

Edited July 9, 2020 by snowglobe

[uktog]

28 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I’ve just read that the UK Foreign Office is now advising against any cruise ship travel.

They always were from March 2020, its just that now they have stripped out all the other advice  as some countries are made available to UK guests, it is a more visible advisory.

I am in the process of renewing my annual travel insurance policy with my existing insurer (decided this is not the year for shopping around) to discover any cruise I book just now will not be covered for any cancellation due to health issues as long as that guidance is in place and beyond then I would have to get the insurers agreement to include it which they may or may not give.  So warning to anyone booking a cruise just now, check what your insurer says before committing.

I had been wondering about doing a booking for late 2021 as a place holder given that Azamara Team have told us our future cruise certs are only covered by ABTA/ATOL when they are converted to cruise bookings.  Oh the rock and the hard place returns.........

[Grandma Cruising]

The only silver lining for us is that if that advice remains in place we will be able to claim for our air fare (budget airline) to Athens if/when we cancel our October 2020 cruise. Our insurance is through the bank and is therefore not annually renewed, so long as we keep paying the monthly fee and we booked the cruise long before COVID-19 started.

[uktog]

37 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

The only silver lining for us is that if that advice remains in place we will be able to claim for our air fare (budget airline) to Athens if/when we cancel our October 2020 cruise. Our insurance is through the bank and is therefore not annually renewed, so long as we keep paying the monthly fee and we booked the cruise long before COVID-19 started.

We have some insurance through the bank but it is too limiting and often doesn't cover the cost per person of our cruises/airfares so have a separate annual policy.  It does have excellent cruise cover which gives us £150 each when the ship misses a port for whatever reason, so it was a nice comfort/bonus in our last few Azamara cruises.

[Grandma Cruising]

16 hours ago, uktog said:

They always were from March 2020, its just that now they have stripped out all the other advice  as some countries are made available to UK guests, it is a more visible advisory.

Previously it only applied to those over 70 and those with underlying conditions, now it applies to everyone.

[hamrag]

44 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Previously it only applied to those over 70 and those with underlying conditions, now it applies to everyone.

Correct, that is the key part most are missing.

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cruise-ship-travel

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8507291/Foreign-Office-tells-tourists-not-cruises-coronavirus-risk.html

 

 

[medd83]

According to the German News Magazine 'Der Spiegel' (https://www.spiegel.de/reise/kreuzfahrten-starten-wieder-nur-gucken-nicht-aussteigen-a-5e5ed767-bd6e-4601-836e-865d156ffad5), cruising will start soon in Germany. 

 

The cruise lines (AIDA, TUI Cruises, Hapag Lloyd) will start end of July/beginning of August with cruises from 3 to 7 days without any ports of call. They'll cruise in the North Sea and/or the Baltic Sea. They can only be booked by German, Austrian and Swiss citizens. The capacity of the ships will be reduced to about 60%, masks have to be worn indoors and social distancing rules will apply. This is phase 1.

 

In phase 2, other European ports could be called if they are open and hygienic standards can assured onshore .

In phase 3, cruising will return to "normal".

 

Hurtigruten already started cruising from Hamburg (Germany) end of last month.

 

I hope that everything goes well with these cruises and that other cruise lines (like Azamara) can also start cruising soon.

 

Regards from Germany,

Martin

Edited July 10, 2020 by medd83

[Mackdogmolly]

3 hours ago, medd83 said:

According to the German News Magazine 'Der Spiegel' (https://www.spiegel.de/reise/kreuzfahrten-starten-wieder-nur-gucken-nicht-aussteigen-a-5e5ed767-bd6e-4601-836e-865d156ffad5), cruising will start soon in Germany. 

 

The cruise lines (AIDA, TUI Cruises, Hapag Lloyd) will start end of July/beginning of August with cruises from 3 to 7 days without any ports of call. They'll cruise in the North Sea and/or the Baltic Sea. They can only be booked by German, Austrian and Swiss citizens. The capacity of the ships will be reduced to about 60%, masks have to be worn indoors and social distancing rules will apply. This is phase 1.

 

In phase 2, other European ports could be called if they are open and hygienic standards can assured onshore .

In phase 3, cruising will return to "normal".

 

Hurtigruten already started cruising from Hamburg (Germany) end of last month.

 

I hope that everything goes well with these cruises and that other cruise lines (like Azamara) can also start cruising soon.

 

Regards from Germany,

Martin

Well, phase 1 sounds like no fun at all!

[Bloodaxe]

36 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Well, phase 1 sounds like no fun at all!

And phase 3  could be ages away.

[medd83]

55 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Well, phase 1 sounds like no fun at all!

We did phase 1 (except of the masks and social distance thing) on the Pursuit in the second half of March this year. 😉 

[ECCruise]

2 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Well, phase 1 sounds like no fun at all!

That is my fear when cruising eventually has a slow start here in the US.

Sailing from FL (in this current scenario, no)

3-5 day sailings (No)

No ports (No)

Perhaps no open dining (No)

 

Guess we will wait.

[Norn Iron Man]

Bearing in mind this latest FCO advice is the actually any point in making the final payment for my October Cruise.  I have been putting it off relying on the 30 day extension email from Azamara. I was going to pay it this week but now I definately see no point.

[john1970]

1 hour ago, Norn Iron Man said:

Bearing in mind this latest FCO advice is the actually any point in making the final payment for my October Cruise.  I have been putting it off relying on the 30 day extension email from Azamara. I was going to pay it this week but now I definately see no point.

I'm hoping the next suspension comes before the final balance is due. I can then get my deposit back as my lift and shift options are very uninspiring. We are booked on the October 3rd cruise from Athens.

[Norn Iron Man]

18 minutes ago, john1970 said:

I'm hoping the next suspension comes before the final balance is due. I can then get my deposit back as my lift and shift options are very uninspiring. We are booked on the October 3rd cruise from Athens.

According to my Travel Agent my final balance was due on 25th June although Azamara extended the date by 30 days so I held back. I don't want to pay the balance for a cruise I won't be going on just to claim it back. I was due to sail from Venice on 10th October

[Azamarajunkie]

25 minutes ago, john1970 said:

I'm hoping the next suspension comes before the final balance is due. I can then get my deposit back as my lift and shift options are very uninspiring. We are booked on the October 3rd cruise from Athens.

We have cancelled our 3rd October from Athens and moved our deposit to the Greece intensive next year which now makes our Black Sea cruise a back to back.....eek!  Will miss the Journey but looking forward to 26 days on the Pursuit 

[donaldsc]

Easy answer - nobody including Azamara has any idea.  

 

DON

[snowglobe]

14 minutes ago, Norn Iron Man said:

According to my Travel Agent my final balance was due on 25th June although Azamara extended the date by 30 days so I held back. I don't want to pay the balance for a cruise I won't be going on just to claim it back. I was due to sail from Venice on 10th October

As more revenue is lost, I would gamble less and less on actually getting cash back.
There is no way that I would contemplate making a final payment on a cruise booked for 2020. I seriously doubt that even if a ship is brought back into service, that any itinerary booked would remain as previously planned.

[Norn Iron Man]

6 minutes ago, snowglobe said:

As more revenue is lost, I would gamble less and less on actually getting cash back.
There is no way that I would contemplate making a final payment on a cruise booked for 2020. I seriously doubt that even if a ship is brought back into service, that any itinerary booked would remain as previously planned.

With all the "proposed" changed that have been mentioned any cruise will be vastly different from what we booked for. The fun and enjoyment will be taken out of it. Surely this difference alone gives customers sufficient ground to cancel anyway.

[the mice]

And even when ports allow cruises, how enjoyable will port visits be?   Wearing masks and social distancing will limit interactions, compounded by timed entry and limited capacity of on-shore venues.  Planning port days will present challenges of their own.  So, it's not just the life onboard that will be vastly different, but the life on shore as well.     

[Baynanno1]

Apparently Journey and Pursuit are going into cold layup. Quest will be in hot layup.

Many comments and links on the thread "Is Journey "mystery ghost ship"?

 

"Cold layups are seen as advantageous only in the event of an outage stretching to many months. 

When they’re ready to set sail again, the restart can take weeks to months.” 😪

 

 

[snowglobe]

Regarding the upcoming South Africa / South America 2020-21 cruising season: it’s not going to happen.

 

The WHO and John Hopkins Center this week included this assessment in their reports:

“The pandemic has been ongoing for more than 6 months and continues to accelerate”, and “After several weeks of maintaining low levels of transmission, several countries around the world are facing legitimate second waves of COVID-19.”

 

Meanwhile, a significant enough segment of American society refuses to accept measures to prevent community transmission and protect their neighbours, by refusing to wear masks and respect social distancing. Borders could easily remain closed to U.S. citizens well into 2021, if a paradigm shift about this virus does not occur in the States soon. Too much is being banked on the concept of “herd immunity” or the hope of a vaccine coming soon, IMO... and we haven’t even yet seen the extent of the anti-vaxx opposition that is brewing on BOTH sides of the pond. 🙄

At this point in time, we’re not even looking at the economic downturn on the tourism industry as a whole either. Plus, it seems that most of us are still taking for granted the easy access (cost and frequency) to cruising ports by air. Then there’s the changes in the insurability for cruising that will be inevitably coming down the pipeline - not good for the clients for sure! ($$$) Some of the fall-outs will be short/medium range, but some will have lasting effects.

I can only see limited close-to-home-ports itineraries in Azamara’s future, if they manage to sail again in 2021.

[donaldsc]

As soon as they can - whenever that is.

 

DON

[Riocca]

Sometimes you wonder if those making the rules actually understand what they’re making rules about. The U.K. Foreign Office advise on cruising has apparently been  updated and a cruise holiday is defined as follows:

"Cruise ship travel means staying overnight for at least 1 night on a sea-going cruise ship with people from multiple households.

 

This has been interpreted by CLIA that river cruises are now allowed, for the life of me I can’t see the difference between river and ocean cruises in that respect other than river cruises usually have less passengers but in a more confined space.

 

[blag]

21 hours ago, donaldsc said:

As soon as they can - whenever that is.

 

DON

This is just so, so PROFOUND.