My TA Said Don’t Book Anything Before 7/1/2021

[JKHawaii]

If I've learned anything this years, it's that no one can predict the future, whether it's next year or next month.

[Germancruiser]

12 hours ago, terrydtx said:

I am afraid that if the cruise industry doesn't return to cruising next year, there may be few of them around to begin cruising in 2022. They huge bleeding of the costs to keep cruise ships docked can't go on forever before they run into insolvency.

That is very possible- I agree- but - they may run into insolvency- and form anew after that. The ships are there- so whenever cruising resembles the cruising we know from before the Pandemic - I am sure there will be enough ships remain to choose from.

[Arizona Wildcat]

23 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Yes. But you need 15 BILLION doses to vaccinate the world. 

Agree.  There are 23 vaccines in development by 40 pharmas.  Each problem has been solved as it developed.  For vaccine vials to syringes.  My point was that one company had promised 1 billion doses.  Do you think the GSK, J&J and several dozen others are not capable of similar production?  AZ will not supply the entire world.  Also China and Russia have their own vaccines.

[BEAV]

13 hours ago, LGW59 said:

I'm still holding out hope 😲 for my TA on May 1...unlikely, though I have time to take back my refundable deposit.  

 

It’s hard to imagine a lengthy Transatlantic crossing (with 4-5 port stops) happening in May ‘21 given the first cruises will be short sailings. Having said that, we sailed an 8-night crossing on Connie in 2006 from Bayonne to Dover with only one stop in Le Havre. So maybe a scaled-back crossing on Apex, if at all?

 

[grandgeezer]

3 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

That is very possible- I agree- but - they may run into insolvency- and form anew after that. The ships are there- so whenever cruising resembles the cruising we know from before the Pandemic - I am sure there will be enough ships remain to choose from.

 

Cruising will never resemble the way it was before the pandemic.

[LGW59]

5 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

 

Cruising will never resemble the way it was before the pandemic.

Oh ye of little and negative faith

[LGW59]

45 minutes ago, BEAV said:

 

It’s hard to imagine a lengthy Transatlantic crossing (with 4-5 port stops) happening in May ‘21 given the first cruises will be short sailings. Having said that, we sailed an 8-night crossing on Connie in 2006 from Bayonne to Dover with only one stop in Le Havre. So maybe a scaled-back crossing on Apex, if at all?

 

One can hope, but I also doubt the TA will happen.  I've got a follow on, 5/15, Europe, will see about that one as well.  I was just looking at Celebrity website and I can replicate the 5/15/21 to 8/18/21, so may just do L&S before that ends.

[wrk2cruise]

7 hours ago, LGW59 said:

I was just looking at Celebrity website and I can replicate the 5/15/21 to 8/18/21, so may just do L&S before that ends.

 

L&S requires the sailing to be 1 year later +/- 4 weeks.   That would put you in the late April to Early June 2022 sailings which aren't released yet and are currently excluded from L&S program.

 

If your saying just moving your reservation to the new dates at prevailing rates that's technically not L&S (where your price and perks are protected) but you can do that at prevailing rates.   If you are considering doing this you might want to do it before the new AI pricing strategy goes into effect on 11/17.

[ECCruise]

On 11/10/2020 at 10:42 PM, Arizona Wildcat said:

I think you have very different information.  Pfizer has discussed having 50 million doses by year end for its US production facility and gear up from there.  

 

That is totally false information.  This is from Pfizer's press release:

Based on current projections we expect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

You have to divide that by half in order to see the number actually vaccinated.  So that means, at best, 25 million vaccinations WORLDWIDE in 2020. And somehow I am not sure that 2 companies in the EU are going to devote a huge percentage to US patients.

And by the end of 2021, that means potential vaccinations for less than 10% of the world's population (although, admittedly, that is a single Pharm company).

 

Thankfully we are beginning to make progress, but I see people on here (not you) that literally expect to be in line for their first jab on December 1st, their 2nd jab on December 14, and on a Christmas cruise.

We've started, but we've got a long way to go.  This is gonna take time.

Edited November 12, 2020 by ECCruise

[cangelmd]

On 11/10/2020 at 7:01 PM, kathynorth said:

 

I may have misunderstood the end date. What was indicated is that it's ending so TA's should encourage their clients to L&S now if they plan to do so. 

Any inkling about FCCs and cancellations? We have a May 2021 cruise scheduled that is over 7 days. We would possibly be interested switching to a 7 day or less cruise depending on what caveats are in place - particularly whether or not I would have to quarantine on return (whether that quarantine was from CDC, my home state or my job). Not too interested in L&S per se.

[ORV]

13 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

 

Cruising will never resemble the way it was before the pandemic.

Completely disagree. In a couple of years all this will seem like a bad dream. 

[drowelf]

On 11/11/2020 at 8:53 AM, ipeeinthepool said:

 

If I understand the TA commission system, this is surprising.  I thought the TA's got their commission if you were paid in full and Celebrity cancelled the cruise.  It sounds like the TA didn't want his commission.

Thats the kind of TA I have, they have their clients (me) best interests paramount. The understand that good customer service keeps the clients coming back. I've dumped TA's in the past that were more interested in just getting their commissions and not providing me the best service. 

 

Every time their is a hint of sale at a line I have cruises booked, I shoot off a text/email and have her check the fares for a better deal. She's never complained about providing this service for me, even as a fare reduction for us, can reduce her commission. 

[cangelmd]

Also, I think that assuming it will be Q3 of 2021 before vaccine is available to the general public is a pessimistic view. Assuming there are no major snafus in the safety data (and we are looking good on that front so far), vaccine should start being available to the general public around April-May. Yes, we still be vaccinating people at the end of 2021, but I think that will be because many people will be reluctant to be vaccinated.

Based on what I've read in the medical news available to MDs, the Pfizer vaccine has to be shipped ultralow, but they have containers that will allow dry ice shipping and once the vaccine is thawed, it has a refrigerated shelf life long enough to get mass vaccination campaigns organized. State health depts have already submitted plans on who to vaccinate first and how to address vulnerable populations, at least in general terms. The infrastructure to do this relatively fast is coming together, but because the demand is a big unknown, it is not clear how this will work beyond the more vulnerable, "captive" populations.