Your Thoughts on Booking an Australian Cruise late 2021

[drsel]

What makes you think that ?

Maybe they can have Cruises for only Australians, but then they will have to refund the foreigners or give them FCCs

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 minute ago, drsel said:

My deposits are non refundable and I made a lot more payment, almost the full Cruise fare to Carnival. ( Payment transferred from other cancelled Cruises)

So I will be forced to wait for Carnival to cancel and get FCCs

Yes, that's really your only option unfortunately. It's very frustrating, we were in that situation earlier in the year.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just now, drsel said:

7 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

What makes you think that ?

Maybe they can, but then they will have to refund the foreigners or give them FCCs

So? They should be used to doing that by now.

[drsel]

I have to wait for Carnival to cancel and then get my FCCs.
there is no other option.
I just hope that the virus burns out and/or the vaccine is available before March 2021.

100 years ago, the Spanish flu subsided on its own in two years, without any antiviral drugs or any vaccine.

[Chiliburn]

3 hours ago, NSWP said:

There is no more red carpet for 'spethial people'  from Graham GBenjo. Never been on RCI, don't know why, got too hooked on Princess, but done a few other lines as per signature but no RCI, no visit to the Foodjammer Buffet, sorry, Windjammer Buffet.🤣

uncle Les you princess folk think to much, this is the problem.

 

Royal Caribbean cheerleaders are dumbed down. It’s the American way.

 

Like take this video any RC  cheerleader knows it off by heart,it’s drummed in to us.
 

 

[Docker123]

 

I feel like a musical interlude:

 

The Angels

 

Am I ever gonna see you face again.

 

With audience participation 

 

 

[getting older slowly]

4 hours ago, NSWP said:

Ah, the premier cruise line, Princess.  Sapphire is nice, we did Baltics/Scandinavia B2B on her, mid 2018.

 

Thanks Les.... we have almost a made it to beginners level  a 100 days on board...

all on the golden princess.....  and think the Sapphire should be nice as well.....

 

I will not say anything about that the 2021-2022 season maybe locals only....

 

And so far have only cruised with Princess and have be happy with the product....

 

before that we had done 28 overnight crossing on the Spirit.....

 

Cheers All..... and for dinner is dead cow with pepper sauce, chips. salad and red

 

Don

 

where we may be in Nov 2021

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

I haven't been on Sapphire yet but have been on her twin - Diamond. I liked Diamond better than Golden. Not exactly sure why but Diamond had a much nicer Wheelhouse Bar for starters.

[getting older slowly]

27 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I haven't been on Sapphire yet but have been on her twin - Diamond. I liked Diamond better than Golden. Not exactly sure why but Diamond had a much nicer Wheelhouse Bar for starters.

 

As long as we can get our aft wake view cabin we will be set.... and we will enjoy...

 

Since the better half doesn't fly ( once a chopper to white island )  we only go from Melbourne thus the Golden...

 

Cheers Don

[NeilonBoard]

6 hours ago, NSWP said:

Lift and Shift, I hate that term RCI use.  Why not 'Transfer Booking?' 

Because there is specific conditions for a Lift and Shift as opposed to merely transferring a booking. 

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, drsel said:

 

And most of their bookings are done through US travel agents, whose clients are mainly Americans and Canadians.

 

On Princess cruises in this part of the world, the majority of pax are always Aussies and NZ'ers who book through local TAs. The number from the US has risen over the last few years from often only a few dozen people, recently it has been a few hundred, but that is still the minority.

 

If the Aust government doesn't allow overseas people to enter the country, and, at the same time allow cruising to re-start, then it follow logically that overseas passengers cannot go on those cruises. Presumably the cruise lines would refund just as they are doing now for cancelled cruises.

[OzKiwiJJ]

15 minutes ago, getting older slowly said:

 

As long as we can get our aft wake view cabin we will be set.... and we will enjoy...

 

Since the better half doesn't fly ( once a chopper to white island )  we only go from Melbourne thus the Golden...

 

Cheers Don

Book now, just in case. 

 

You get Sapphire, Brisbane gets Coral, and Sydney gets the horrible ships. 😪😪😪

 

Actually there is a Sapphire cruise out of Sydney in October, to Tassie, which is the one we booked on. 

[Aus Traveller]

3 hours ago, drsel said:

I

And most of their bookings are done through US travel agents, whose clients are mainly Americans and Canadians.

 

Cruiselines could sell Australian cruises with only Aussies and NZ'ers. That is what P&O Australia has done for some time. They have not promoted their cruises overseas yet they manage to fill their ships.🙂

[SinbadThePorter]

If I was forced to bet on a local resumption of cruising, I would put $5 on November 2021, and $1 each on the October and December.

 

So while it's probably not a terrible idea to book a cruise for late 2021, there is no way I would do it.

 

Besides, prices at the moment are 25-30% above what I like to see. When cruising becomes something more than hypothetical I think the prices will become less hypothetical.

[Aus Traveller]

4 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

If I was forced to bet on a local resumption of cruising, I would put $5 on November 2021, and $1 each on the October and December.

 

So while it's probably not a terrible idea to book a cruise for late 2021, there is no way I would do it.

 

Besides, prices at the moment are 25-30% above what I like to see. When cruising becomes something more than hypothetical I think the prices will become less hypothetical.

We booked an August 7-day P&O cruise, but I feel we have a 50/50 chance of it going ahead. The deal was very good. We booked on $1 deposit with more of the deposit payable in February. At that time we can assess whether we pay the balance of the deposit or lose our $2.

[drsel]

We booked an August 7-day P&O cruise, but I feel we have a 50/50 chance of it going ahead. The deal was very good. We booked on $1 deposit with more of the deposit payable in February. At that time we can assess whether we pay the balance of the deposit or lose our $2.

Can non Australians book PO Australia for $2 on the PO official website

[Docker123]

6 hours ago, drsel said:

11 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

We booked an August 7-day P&O cruise, but I feel we have a 50/50 chance of it going ahead. The deal was very good. We booked on $1 deposit with more of the deposit payable in February. At that time we can assess whether we pay the balance of the deposit or lose our $2.

Can non Australians book PO Australia for $2 on the PO official website

Pretty much all of us here are in Australia or New Zealand. None of us work for cruise lines or travel agents. That way, we do not have the information, and can’t access it.
 

I know, how about you try and do a dummy booking on the P&O site. Then you can come back and tell us what happens. That way we will all learn something.

 

[By The Bay]

7 hours ago, drsel said:

12 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

We booked an August 7-day P&O cruise, but I feel we have a 50/50 chance of it going ahead. The deal was very good. We booked on $1 deposit with more of the deposit payable in February. At that time we can assess whether we pay the balance of the deposit or lose our $2.

Can non Australians book PO Australia for $2 on the PO official website

Try using a VPN and select an Australian server. 😉

[MMDown Under]

If all that fails, try phoning the cruise line direct.  I have done that and been the only Australians on a cruise.

[SinbadThePorter]

I just tried the P&O Oz site through a US VPN and it wouldn't work for me. It shows the cruises but does not allow you to book.

 

It works fine locally.

[Aus Traveller]

7 hours ago, drsel said:

13 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

We booked an August 7-day P&O cruise, but I feel we have a 50/50 chance of it going ahead. The deal was very good. We booked on $1 deposit with more of the deposit payable in February. At that time we can assess whether we pay the balance of the deposit or lose our $2.

Can non Australians book PO Australia for $2 on the PO official website

We booked when P&O Australia had a promotion in late August. It was $1 pp deposit and $400 OBC with pretty good prices (balcony $1,059 for the category we booked). This promotion isn't available all the time.

 

We read here on the forum that Princess often has promotions for people in other parts of the world that are not available to Aussies.

 

If you wanted to book on P&O Aust, I dare say you could contact one of the on-line Aussie TA's and I don't believe they would turn down your business. However, currently there is the problem of our border being closed.

[By The Bay]

I was reading articles which quoted comments by the Queensland CHO, Jeannette Young. The CHO stated that traveling on cruise ships was not safe during the pandemic. Given that the politicians in Australia follow the advice given from their medical experts, I cannot see cruising recommencing in Australia any time soon. Possibly not until the pandemic is declared over. If there was a change in Government after the state election, I would expect no change in the cruising ban. 😒 Here is an extract of her statements from 7News. Also reported by the Brisbane Times.

 

“The problem with cruise ships is that they lead to transmission very, very readily,” Queensland CHO Jeannette Young said on Thursday.

 

“We know that from the past. We’ve seen outbreaks of norovirus, we’ve seen outbreaks of flu.

 

“So it’s not surprising that you would see outbreaks of COVID.

 

“So really, they are not safe.

 

“We know if someone goes onto that cruise ship from wherever, they might have the infection and it would spread.

 

“We saw that as one of the early consequences of this virus when there were few cases in the world.

 

“So no, it’s something that would be quite late in our process before we’d think they were a good idea.”

 

[MMDown Under]

The fact that ships aren't listed in Sydney at present, says it all.  I don't think cruiselines should  be selling cruises if they don't have them booked in to ports of call.  Some Passengers are keen to cruise, but they need to know the ships are sailing!

Edited October 4, 2020 by MMDown Under

[V_icki_e]

13 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

If I was forced to bet on a local resumption of cruising, I would put $5 on November 2021, and $1 each on the October and December.

 

So while it's probably not a terrible idea to book a cruise for late 2021, there is no way I would do it.

 

Besides, prices at the moment are 25-30% above what I like to see. When cruising becomes something more than hypothetical I think the prices will become less hypothetical.

 

We were over the moon with our pricing, but it could also be that we booked for Feb '22 (more certainty for cruising then, surely).  We got a mini suite on Coral Princess for a 14 night NZ round trip ex Brisbane, for $170 pp more than what we were paying for a balcony on the Sea for the same trip in February 2021!  I don't know how we stumbled across it, but we grabbed it!  

[SinbadThePorter]

1 minute ago, MMDown Under said:

I don't think cruiselines shouldn't  be selling cruises if they don't have them booked in to ports of call.

 

The cruise lines are selling hypothetical cruises, but not for hypothetical money. 🤑

 

Unless you are forced to because of expiring FCCs, I would not book anything given the current state of the virus.