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Canada sailings in September?


Vineyard View
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I am sure that I read somewhere that Princess has cancelled Alaska and any Canadian Cruises (amongst other locations) into the Fall. 
We are booked in September RT from SFO to Vancouver/Victoria. I looked at Princess online and it appears to still be selling cabins. I also looked through several pages on this forum before posting. Does anyone know the status? I realize Canada likely May have the last word here,  and have not seen further updates on accepting Cruises. Thank you

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23 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

I am sure that I read somewhere that Princess has cancelled Alaska and any Canadian Cruises (amongst other locations) into the Fall. 
We are booked in September RT from SFO to Vancouver/Victoria. I looked at Princess online and it appears to still be selling cabins. I also looked through several pages on this forum before posting. Does anyone know the status? I realize Canada likely May have the last word here,  and have not seen further updates on accepting Cruises. Thank you

Go to Princess.com and use the link at the top of the page to navigate to Travel Advisories and read about the 3rd Pause from the May 6 announcement link.  If you drill down through that announcement and link to details, you will find details and downloadable PDF's that list all the cancelled voyages.  These include Fall New England & Canada voyages.  West Coast from Canada north were cancelled previously and in the May 6 Pause 3, the entire Alaska season was cancelled.  Check for your voyage in these documents.  The system has not been completely updated yet, but I can say our cancelled voyage no longer appears when searched for.

 

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Thank you Steelers36. I found the link. I did not see any cancellations for Star Princess at all. I guess we will just wait a bit longer. Just not sure it will sail. And also not sure if we will sail until a little further down the Covid road. I appreciate your assistance. 

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Are you asking about the Pacific Northwest Coast cruise on the Star, out of SF, on September 20? That one appears to be the first scheduled cruise on the Star after the pause in operations. Whether or not it will sail is another question. We plan to go on the September 27th cruise if cruising is allowed by final payment.

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As someone who lives a 10 minute walk from the port in Vancouver, I would say it seems unlikely we will see any ships this year at this point. We are still very much "closed for business" despite never having a formal lockdown. There does not seem to be any intention of opening borders anytime soon and we have already been told that there will be no large gatherings like sporting events or concerts until a vaccine is found. The cruise ship question came up in our daily briefing today and, although there was no definitive answer, it sounded unlikely. Here is an article if you are interested:

 

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-cruise-ship-season-bc-health-officials?fbclid=IwAR3mj6qAQDEj64dBYv5bVveUj3syhH-sswhErDUOdNvvUaVOssVKt8TxPOo

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12 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

I did not see any cancellations for Star Princess at all.

 

The most recent list released didn't include any new Star Princess sailings. But the previous list did, though not yours. It has all sailings from 5/13 to 9/10 (all Alaska 10 day cruises) as cancelled.

 

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/plan/impacted-and-cancelled-cruises/extension-voluntary-pause-2020.pdf

 

Out of curiosity, I checked vesselfinder to see where Star is now. It's in port in Puerto Vallarta.

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10 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

As someone who lives a 10 minute walk from the port in Vancouver, I would say it seems unlikely we will see any ships this year at this point. We are still very much "closed for business" despite never having a formal lockdown. There does not seem to be any intention of opening borders anytime soon and we have already been told that there will be no large gatherings like sporting events or concerts until a vaccine is found. The cruise ship question came up in our daily briefing today and, although there was no definitive answer, it sounded unlikely. Here is an article if you are interested:

 

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-cruise-ship-season-bc-health-officials?fbclid=IwAR3mj6qAQDEj64dBYv5bVveUj3syhH-sswhErDUOdNvvUaVOssVKt8TxPOo

 

Sorry to hear this.  As of yesterday, anyway, Princess was booking a fall, 2020 cruise to Hawaii from Vancouver.

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1 hour ago, Cruiserkenn said:

 

Sorry to hear this.  As of yesterday, anyway, Princess was booking a fall, 2020 cruise to Hawaii from Vancouver.

 

We are booked on that cruise.  I believe the chance of it happening is essentially nil.  As of yesterday, our cruise departing today to Alaska from Vancouver was showing up as an active booking and we should therefore be arriving at the port shortly.  In other words,  do not take anything you find on the Princess web site too seriously.

 

As mentioned above, the BC Medical Health officer has made several statements that would make the September departure to Hawaii very unlikely.  Here is a bit of a summary of how things are playing out in British Columbia:

- first, a bonus item for Princess.  The sailing is the first listed for the Grand Princess after a business re-start.  One can make an assumption, the no one will need to leave the ship upon her arrival in Vancouver.

- periodic or one time gatherings of more than 50 people are not permitted (btw, this wording allows grocery stores to operate).  Physically distancing aside from household members is required (being expanded to a small "social bubble").  This would make embarkation very challenging.

- Non-Canadian residents may experience difficulty transiting Canada in order the board the ship.  The Canadian border is only open for essential travel. Canadians should obtain travel medical insurance before leaving Canada; good luck with that.  That does not leave too many potential passengers left.

- The Canadian federal government controls the ports.  They are currently closed to cruise ship (>= 500 passenger CAPACITY) traffic until July 1st.   Assume that problem goes away and the Grand Princess sails to Hawaii (BTW, the last I heard she and her passengers are not welcome there either) and returns two weeks later and the passengers disembark. They will be under order to quarantine for two weeks.  The will have strict rules to follow and can expect to be checked up on.

- Our Medical Health officer has very strong support in British Columbia.  We have a very low incidence rate of Covid-19 and her leadership is creditted for that.  There is very little public support to challenge her.

- Moving ahead to what things may look four months from now.  The messaging is that a vaccine is necessary to get things return to the state of normal that would make it reasonable for a cruise ship to dock at a BC port.  

- The universities are planning for online classes in the fall.   This is not an optimistic message.

- The current plan of action in BC is opening up as many businesses with guidelines for safe operation for both staff and customers.  The rule of 50 is not going to disappear anytime soon.

 

Hoping for a bright 2021 and beyond.

 

 

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Thank you all for these helpful articles and input. I think it’s highly unlikely our cruise will sail. I think it’s also highly unlikely we will be taking any vacation this year to be honest. So far we have cancelled several. 
I need to check to see if I need to wait for the cruise line to cancel for travel insurance reimbursement. I know that varies with insurance companies. I truly appreciate the time in responding to my question. 

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4 hours ago, Mears Family said:

 

We are booked on that cruise.  I believe the chance of it happening is essentially nil.  As of yesterday, our cruise departing today to Alaska from Vancouver was showing up as an active booking and we should therefore be arriving at the port shortly.  In other words,  do not take anything you find on the Princess web site too seriously.

 

As mentioned above, the BC Medical Health officer has made several statements that would make the September departure to Hawaii very unlikely.  Here is a bit of a summary of how things are playing out in British Columbia:

- first, a bonus item for Princess.  The sailing is the first listed for the Grand Princess after a business re-start.  One can make an assumption, the no one will need to leave the ship upon her arrival in Vancouver.

- periodic or one time gatherings of more than 50 people are not permitted (btw, this wording allows grocery stores to operate).  Physically distancing aside from household members is required (being expanded to a small "social bubble").  This would make embarkation very challenging.

- Non-Canadian residents may experience difficulty transiting Canada in order the board the ship.  The Canadian border is only open for essential travel. Canadians should obtain travel medical insurance before leaving Canada; good luck with that.  That does not leave too many potential passengers left.

- The Canadian federal government controls the ports.  They are currently closed to cruise ship (>= 500 passenger CAPACITY) traffic until July 1st.   Assume that problem goes away and the Grand Princess sails to Hawaii (BTW, the last I heard she and her passengers are not welcome there either) and returns two weeks later and the passengers disembark. They will be under order to quarantine for two weeks.  The will have strict rules to follow and can expect to be checked up on.

- Our Medical Health officer has very strong support in British Columbia.  We have a very low incidence rate of Covid-19 and her leadership is creditted for that.  There is very little public support to challenge her.

- Moving ahead to what things may look four months from now.  The messaging is that a vaccine is necessary to get things return to the state of normal that would make it reasonable for a cruise ship to dock at a BC port.  

- The universities are planning for online classes in the fall.   This is not an optimistic message.

- The current plan of action in BC is opening up as many businesses with guidelines for safe operation for both staff and customers.  The rule of 50 is not going to disappear anytime soon.

 

Hoping for a bright 2021 and beyond.

 

 

OK, very convincing. I am still hoping for the best for Hawaii.  Aloha'🌝🌈🌅🌸🌼🍍

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20 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Yes jennybenny. That is the the itinerary we are booked on - sailing 9/20. Not sure if first scheduled cruise is a good thing or not - I can see an argument for both sides. 

 

I've been following this one as well ... will be on it if it sails.  It's iffy but, as you say, I can see argument for both sides.  

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I think,  for me, finding out how the travel insurance requires my behavior for refund may impact my decision to cancel early or wait to see if Princess cancels. I am not so confident,  that even if this itinerary sails, Canada will allow disembarkation. 
Living in the Bay Area as you do, this is an easy vacation to reschedule. 
That said, I sure wish we were sailing into Malta tomorrow and am missing travel this year. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I saw the report yesterday where Canada is not allowing any cruise ships with more than 100 passengers to dock in their ports through 10/31/20. 
I have returned to the link Steelers36 provided the information on. Our trip is not listed as cancelled yet it docks in Victoria and Vancouver. The note also says if you do not fill out the form for a refund by 6/15 it will default to FCC, which we do not want at this time. Princess.com still shows cabins available. 
Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you

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9 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

I saw the report yesterday where Canada is not allowing any cruise ships with more than 100 passengers to dock in their ports through 10/31/20. 
I have returned to the link Steelers36 provided the information on. Our trip is not listed as cancelled yet it docks in Victoria and Vancouver. The note also says if you do not fill out the form for a refund by 6/15 it will default to FCC, which we do not want at this time. Princess.com still shows cabins available. 
Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you

 

I have no advice for you.   I think you fit the profile of a typical Princess client who finds the lack of transparency frustrating.  Princess should immediately remove the sailings from the schedule, place an adversary on their website about the cancellations, and advise when the cancellation policy will be issued by.

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The Canadian announcement only happened yesterday. It will take a few days for Princess IT to catch up and amend its website. This announcement is now public knowledge and available from many sources including CC. You have to live under a rock to not be informed.

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51 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

I saw the report yesterday where Canada is not allowing any cruise ships with more than 100 passengers to dock in their ports through 10/31/20. 
I have returned to the link Steelers36 provided the information on. Our trip is not listed as cancelled yet it docks in Victoria and Vancouver. The note also says if you do not fill out the form for a refund by 6/15 it will default to FCC, which we do not want at this time. Princess.com still shows cabins available. 
Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you

I just called Princess because I am booked on the Sept 20 cruise out of SF (Round Trip - West Coast). 

 

They don't have any updated information as of today, but to be fair the announcement of the Canadian closures until October 31 was only made yesterday.   The call taker suggested keeping an eye on https://www.princess.com/plan/impacted-and-cancelled-cruises/ page for updates.  

 

If you have only paid the deposit, and think you will cruise with Princess in the future, you may wish to just leave the deposit and get a nice FCC details are on this page.

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Smokeyham we are booked on the same cruise. 
 

I will give it till mid week and hopefully Princess will have their list updated. My concern was the statement on their website that the refund form needed to be completed by 6/15. We will be taking a refund. Not sure how long it will be before we will be comfortable on a larger ship. I think our next cruise will likely be another river cruise. And not likely within the next year, but more likely late 2021 or 2022. 
 

thanks for the input and opinions. 

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Folks need to understand that Princess is completely overwhelmed and far behind with their cancellations and record keeping.  For example, we were booked on the Aug 7,2020 Island Princess cruise from NYC to Southampton.  Princess cancelled this cruise about 1 month ago.  But if I go into my cruise account it still shows our reservation, the cruise itinerary, and there is no mention of any cancellation.  

 

So folks that are asking about Alaska/Canada cruises need to be patient and Princess will likely get caught up by New Years!  Also keep in mind that Princess has furloughed many workers and most of their remaining workers have to work from home,  None of this helps when it comes to catching-up.  I would bet that Princess will issue a new press release (the last was on May 6) this coming week and cancel any of the cruises that were scheduled to dock in Canada this fall.   We have another October booking (Regal Princess) which is a complex itinerary (Rome to Singapore) where nearly all the ports are closed to cruise ships.  It is unlikely that many of those ports will be opened by October but that will not stop Princess from waiting until the last minute to cancel that cruise.  

 

Hank

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10 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Smokeyham we are booked on the same cruise. 
 

I will give it till mid week and hopefully Princess will have their list updated. My concern was the statement on their website that the refund form needed to be completed by 6/15. We will be taking a refund. Not sure how long it will be before we will be comfortable on a larger ship. I think our next cruise will likely be another river cruise. And not likely within the next year, but more likely late 2021 or 2022. 
 

thanks for the input and opinions. 

Very happy to help.   I am sorry this cruise is cancelled since it would have been nice to cruise without the issues associated with flying.   

I wonder if Princess will be providing more cruises from the U.S. West Coast to Mexico, since it appears that Mexico will be opening up their ports to cruise ships. 

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