Heard Equinox is not sailing till January 2021?

[MEcruzr]

5 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I thought it was just the opposite.  I thought that by mid-July RCI would have repatriated all of their crew and they were down to minimum staffing levels.  About 40 per ship.

The CDC approved one crew member to disembark Edge in the US yesterday. It's still happening.

 

According to ABC news on 6/14 there were still 40,000 cruise ship crew worldwide still not repatriated.

[Roger88]

We have known it for awhile now. I even surprised it announces the date of sailing. There are so many cruise ships worldwide still not repatriated and I cant imagine some Equinox just starting out from the scratch. I believe that in order for them to start properly operating - some major companies have to start cruising first  

[ipeeinthepool]

27 minutes ago, MEcruzr said:

The CDC approved one crew member to disembark Edge in the US yesterday. It's still happening.

 

According to ABC news on 6/14 there were still 40,000 cruise ship crew worldwide still not repatriated.

 

That could have been true for the entire industry in June but Royal and I suspect Celebrity and Azamara are about done.  From Cruise Industry News on July 2, 2020

 

"Royal Caribbean International has repatriated approximately 95 percent of its crew, which generally totals about 40,000 aboard, said Vicki Freed, senior vice president, sales, trade support and service.

Freed said the company had taken crew home via its own ships or chartered aircraft.

Better yet, by July 15, the company expects to have 97 percent of its crew home. 

"No crew left behind," said Freed, speaking on a webinar with travel agents.

That would leave Royal Caribbean with around 1,200 crew board its 26 ships, which works out to an average of 46 crew per ship. 

A cold lay-up scenario for a modern cruise ship needs roughly 40 crew aboard to maintain and run necessary equipment. "

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23171-royal-caribbean-has-repatriated-38-000-crew.html

 

[lovecruzin]

It is my understanding that there are still well over 1200 Mauritians still onboard RC ships. I believe their country is making it very difficult for them to go home. 
So it doesn’t add up that 97% would be repatriated in the next week, unless that is just the Mauritian crew left.

[pixiedust777]

RCCL is doing a great job getting crew home.

It is just hard to see some countries not allow their own citizens to return. That is no fault of the cruise line.

Edited July 10, 2020 by pixiedust777

[Ktuluorion]

I'm hoping this isn't true.   I'm bored for a late November cruise on Equinox.  I did call and confirm that the story from celebrity is still that they are sailing starting 9/15.

[ipeeinthepool]

5 hours ago, lovecruzin said:

It is my understanding that there are still well over 1200 Mauritians still onboard RC ships. I believe their country is making it very difficult for them to go home. 
So it doesn’t add up that 97% would be repatriated in the next week, unless that is just the Mauritian crew left.

 

This doesn't seem to be accurate.

[wrk2cruise]

4 minutes ago, Ktuluorion said:

I'm hoping this isn't true.   I'm bored for a late November cruise on Equinox.  I did call and confirm that the story from celebrity is still that they are sailing starting 9/15.

 

That's what they know at the moment.  That date can change and I suspect it will for most sailings.  I think you will see 1 or 2 ships start with short itineraries with few if any port stops.

[beloum]

Well, they are still accepting bookings for the 12/9 Eqinox sailing on their website, so if they know for sure it is a no go, that would be a tad unethical.   

[TXranchgal]

We have the Equinox booked for the first part of November.  Final Payment is due in a few weeks. 

 

IF they are going to cancel November - they should certainly notify passengers - so they will NOT make final payments.   - Maybe that is the plan - to collect as much money as they can.  That gives them 90 days of interest-free deposits to sustain their cash flow longer...    BUT, As the OP said - that would be more than a tad unethical..

[margo2011]

Well was just about to book Eclipse February 2021  Australia ,thought this might be a realistic timeframe .On BBC just said that Government  are advising against all cruising .
Well that’s that then ,this will cripple Southampton thought a lot of Brits would try a no fly one first taking the stress out of any flights but this Came out of the blue ,whilst they  Are pushing flights to med.

[bouhunter]

10 hours ago, Ktuluorion said:

I'm hoping this isn't true.   I'm bored for a late November cruise on Equinox.  I did call and confirm that the story from celebrity is still that they are sailing starting 9/15.

Good luck with that.

[bouhunter]

9 hours ago, TXranchgal said:

We have the Equinox booked for the first part of November.  Final Payment is due in a few weeks. 

 

IF they are going to cancel November - they should certainly notify passengers - so they will NOT make final payments.   - Maybe that is the plan - to collect as much money as they can.  That gives them 90 days of interest-free deposits to sustain their cash flow longer...    BUT, As the OP said - that would be more than a tad unethical..

Well, that's what Celebrity and the other major lines have been doing for months.  Nothing new.

 

It's just me, but I wouldn't be making final payment on a November cruise.  Unless you're content with waiting months for a refund or FCC.  They'll appreciate the loan in the meantime.

 

Even when the do sail, they won't be flipping a switch and operating every ship/every itinerary.  Some will still be cancelled for a while.

Edited July 10, 2020 by bouhunter

[Fouremco]

13 hours ago, beloum said:

Well, they are still accepting bookings for the 12/9 Eqinox sailing on their website, so if they know for sure it is a no go, that would be a tad unethical.   

 

12 hours ago, TXranchgal said:

We have the Equinox booked for the first part of November.  Final Payment is due in a few weeks. 

 

IF they are going to cancel November - they should certainly notify passengers - so they will NOT make final payments.   - Maybe that is the plan - to collect as much money as they can.  That gives them 90 days of interest-free deposits to sustain their cash flow longer...    BUT, As the OP said - that would be more than a tad unethical..

In early March, the Canadian government banned cruise ships from its ports, but Celebrity continued to sell cruises for many weeks that included Canadian ports, even those where the port of embarkation was in Canada. They knew full well that these cruises would never sail, but dragged out cancellation as far as they could to ensure maximum intake of cash. The same thing happened, and continues to happen, with cruises globally that they know will have to be cancel eventually. Definitely a "tad" unethical.

 

 

[MISTER 67]

On 7/7/2020 at 4:45 PM, Harrylinden said:

I heard the Equinox isn't going to sail till January 2021? I have a cruise on her  December 9th 2020! Anyone else hear that and could it be possibly be true?

It's quite possible what with the virus not going away anytime soon, there won't be any ships sailing in January of 2021.

[phoenix_dream]

19 hours ago, pixiedust777 said:

RCCL is doing a great job getting crew home.

It is just hard to see some countries not allow their own citizens to return. That is no fault of the cruise line.

It's not only hard to see, it is absolutely abhorrent and inhumane IMHO.  How any country can refuse to help their own citizens is beyond me (and I know the US was like this initially so shame, shame, shame on us as well - you pay into the government with taxes after taxes after taxes and then when you need them they leave you stranded - no excuse).   

[TXranchgal]

We decided to Lift and Shift our November Equinox to 2021. 

 

It makes sense to keep the great cabin and great price and perks and not worry about whether Celebrity will cancel.

This makes the 4th cruise we have cancelled for 2020..  :-(....   So Sad!

[yorky]

5 hours ago, TXranchgal said:

We decided to Lift and Shift our November Equinox to 2021. 

 

It makes sense to keep the great cabin and great price and perks and not worry about whether Celebrity will cancel.

This makes the 4th cruise we have cancelled for 2020..  :-(....   So Sad!

It is, looking at the roll calls a lot of people are doing the same, quite a few including us moving Asia cruises in January/February to a year later one example .

[tcdg32]

I'm all so booked on the 9th  yes it would be nice to know, we can only rely on information, as of now it's going Facebook sometimes gets the fastest information but it needs to be verified.  We need not to stress in time this will work out and if not this cruise there will be an other. So were is every body from?

[WestLakeGirl]

You will want to ask that on the rollcall for your cruise,