Updated Return to Service Predictions

[Steve Q]

Arnold Donald was on CNBC a short while ago ( While he is the CEO of Carnival, his thoughts are worth hearing). He did mention that they do hope to return to cruising by the end of this year. In addition, he stated that no decision had been made regarding the mandating of vaccinations being a requirement for cruising. 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/01/11/we-have-robust-pent-up-demand-for-cruises-says-carnival-corp-ceo.html

 

[Catpow]

Marc,

 

We were booked on two legs of the 2021 Grand Arctic: NY to Southampton, Copenhagen to Amsterdam.  We attended a Regent sales function in November 2021 in Canberra, Australia where we live.  We mentioned our booking to the organisers and they looked at us with the nonchalance of 'would you like fries with that?' and said 'Let's rebook this for 2022 shall we?'.  Which we did and were also able to gain an E to G and back again discount under the current upgrade rules.   So some Regent folks knew then it was most unlikely to sail. H'mmm🙄. 

So your rebooking for 2022 is prudent - hope to see you on board😎.

 

 

[mrlevin]

5 minutes ago, Catpow said:

Which we did and were also able to gain an E to G and back again discount under the current upgrade rules.   So some Regent folks knew then it was most unlikely to sail. H'mmm🙄. 

So your rebooking for 2022 is prudent - hope to see you on board😎.

 

 

 

Catpow, as you are only doing a number of segments, you are able to get the G to E upgrade; Regent did not offer that to those on the full Grand Voyage.  My best option is to pay in full and get 2022 for 2021 rates.

 

I am about ready to chuck it but we have 249 nights currently booked on Regent and really like the product.  If Regent doesn't make the transfer from 2021 to 2022 seamless I will reconsider leaving my money with them (only 11K is actually FCC).

[flossie009]

17 hours ago, Steve Q said:

they do hope to return to cruising by the end of this year

Not a very optimistic forecast ☹️

[Pcardad]

The problem is the CDC and their requirements. No cruise line is going to rebuild crew quarters to put 1 person per room...this will not happen. So all the cruise lines will cruise out of US waters until the CDC changes this requirement. Europe will see a resumption of cruise LONG before the USA.

[rallydave]

11 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

The problem is the CDC and their requirements. No cruise line is going to rebuild crew quarters to put 1 person per room

Absolutely correct about not rebuilding the crew quarters for single occupancy.  However there will need to be rebuilding for medical services and quarantine.  Plus with limited passenger occupancy the single quarters for crew will be relatively simple to solve, Just put the crew in the unused passenger cabins/suites for the beginning of return to sail and with the other CDC requirements resolved, no reason at least a limited number of sailings in US waters are extremely possible.

[Pcardad]

I've heard they have decided to sail in europe instead and wait out the vaccine. Hearsay of course but that is what our group is going with and won't be booking cruises that hit US ports until early 2022. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I was noting today that Seabourn has given up its fall New England schedule, I'm guessing for the above reasons, but for 2022 as well as 2021.  

 

Not that there are any cruises in my future (there aren't), but the Montreal-Montreal itinerary that went down the St. Lawrence and then up the Gulf around Newfoundland does not involve the States at all.  Disappointed to see that wonderful itinerary gone, at least for now.  The logistics of the CDC rules seem baroque.  (But I disagree that they couldn't do private crew quarters, if they had to.)

Edited January 12, 2021 by Wendy The Wanderer

[howiefrommd]

3 hours ago, rallydave said:

Absolutely correct about not rebuilding the crew quarters for single occupancy.  However there will need to be rebuilding for medical services and quarantine.  Plus with limited passenger occupancy the single quarters for crew will be relatively simple to solve, Just put the crew in the unused passenger cabins/suites for the beginning of return to sail and with the other CDC requirements resolved, no reason at least a limited number of sailings in US waters are extremely possible.

It is not merely rebuilding medical space.  The Herculean effort that faces the entire cruise industry is obtaining the clinicians with the appropriate skills and abilities to care for COVID patient.  These patients present a very complex set of unique challenges for the clinicians.  These are not patients you can dump off at the next port.  

[Pcardad]

4 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

I was noting today that Seabourn has given up its fall New England schedule, I'm guessing for the above reasons, but for 2022 as well as 2021.  

 

Not that there are any cruises in my future (there aren't), but the Montreal-Montreal itinerary that went down the St. Lawrence and then up the Gulf around Newfoundland does not involve the States at all.  Disappointed to see that wonderful itinerary gone, at least for now.  The logistics of the CDC rules seem baroque.  (But I disagree that they couldn't do private crew quarters, if they had to.)

They COULD, but they decided not to because of cost.

[SWFLAOK]

11 hours ago, Catpow said:

Marc,

 

We were booked on two legs of the 2021 Grand Arctic: NY to Southampton, Copenhagen to Amsterdam.  We attended a Regent sales function in November 2021 in Canberra, Australia where we live.  We mentioned our booking to the organisers and they looked at us with the nonchalance of 'would you like fries with that?' and said 'Let's rebook this for 2022 shall we?'.  Which we did and were also able to gain an E to G and back again discount under the current upgrade rules.   So some Regent folks knew then it was most unlikely to sail. H'mmm🙄. 

So your rebooking for 2022 is prudent - hope to see you on board😎.

 

 

So Catpow, you said "We attended a Regent sales function in November 2021 in Canberra, Australia where we live. "  I've flown from Australia to Florida and I know you're ahead of us in time, but how did you attend a function in 2021?

[rallydave]

Do not have a link right now but, appears CDC starting January 26 will require a negative Covid test within 72 hours before returning to the US and airlines won't let you board the plan home.  This includes all on the plane including returning US Citizens.

 

Won't help at all with cruises starting in Europe.  Could require the cruise lines to give COVID tests before disembarkation with results before departing the ship.

[Catpow]

2 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

So Catpow, you said "We attended a Regent sales function in November 2021 in Canberra, Australia where we live. "  I've flown from Australia to Florida and I know you're ahead of us in time, but how did you attend a function in 2021?

A slip of the keys - of course it was 2020🙂.

 

[Catpow]

14 hours ago, mrlevin said:

 

Catpow, as you are only doing a number of segments, you are able to get the G to E upgrade; Regent did not offer that to those on the full Grand Voyage.  My best option is to pay in full and get 2022 for 2021 rates.

 

I am about ready to chuck it but we have 249 nights currently booked on Regent and really like the product.  If Regent doesn't make the transfer from 2021 to 2022 seamless I will reconsider leaving my money with them (only 11K is actually FCC).

You are absolutely correct; I suspect Regent consider that Grand Voyages are already slightly reduced in price over individual legs which could be why they were exempt from the promotion.  And yes we have nearly 200 nights booked, so we're also fans.  Our transfer from the 2021 to 2022 sailing was pretty seamless though the deposit was more as we had previously booked on board with a reduced deposit and that required adjustment.  We actually ended up with a suite we prefer.  Good luck!

 

[loriva]

On 1/10/2021 at 10:31 PM, Pcardad said:

I am adding that I expect european cruises to run this summer but it will be a while before the US opens up.

 

We are still hoping the Voyager 10-night Greek and Turkey sailing in mid-September will be a go (after having what should have been our first two Regent cruises in 2020 cancelled.)  Voyager does not touch the United States under its current schedule and, maybe, we here and those in the EU and area will have had vaccinations by then.  (DH received his first dose last Friday.  I fall square into Phase II, but still hope I will have had mine by September.)

 

Of course, we just mainly want this vaccine to get out and to help all out of this horrible virus.

 

[Pcardad]

Interesting to re-read this thread...

[flossie009]

So @pappy1022 won the sweep (post #13)

 

...... and, while we were all waiting in vain for cruising to restart, the septuagenarian Frank Rothwell made it across the Atlantic to the Caribbean:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-56028676

 

[Pcardad]

Absolutely! And I finds it interesting to compare our guesses to the actual actions by Regent - it provides a lot of insight into their decision making process.