Cruising out of the US in April?

[DrSea]

I saw that there are some cruises out of FL in April, and I am thinking about booking them. Any guesses on if they will cancel the trips to the Caribbean in April 2021? I have to book PTO, and it is a headache to reschedule it. 

 

Thanks for any input or feedback

 

 

(Before anyone chastises me for cruising during a pandemic, I am fully vaccinated and in my 30s, so I am low risk for COVID.)

[cellfree]

We have an April 10th out of Miami booked but am concerned it will be cancelled. Hope is dwindling. Seems all other Cruise Lines already cancelled through April 30.

[DCGuy64]

It doesn't seem likely at this point. The US government is taking a hard line on the virus that includes mandatory COVID-19 testing with a negative result and a mandatory quarantine (CDC recommends 7-10 days), so that could make it tricky. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we get a handle on this virus soon and large scale cruising from the US can resume. 

[Farts]

where would the quarantine happen? at the port?

 

The experts are saying that we will spike in April, lol. 

[DCGuy64]

18 minutes ago, Farts said:

where would the quarantine happen? at the port?

 

The experts are saying that we will spike in April, lol. 

That isn't clear yet, regarding where the quarantine would happen. In other countries, governments house quarantined passengers in local hotels. I suspect that Americans coming home from abroad and subject to quarantine would be expected to stay home, however I've no idea how that would be enforced.

[deweytrader]

I am fully expecting my 4/10/21 sailing on the Meraviglia to be canceled any day now.  

[Envelope21]

We are booked on April 25 out of Port Canaveral. All the major cruise lines have already cancelled everything until at least May, so I wouldn't be surprised if ours gets cancelled too. But we live near the port and we will just rebook if it gets cancelled.

[Homosassa]

Don't expect any cruises to leave Florida in April or, probably, May. 

 

June and July may be iffy (I am booked for the end of July).

 

The Covid 19 situation in Florida is bad.  We have unmitigated community spread (and are now a hot spot for the new more transmissible variants).

 

Local attempts to put controls in place such as mandatory mask wearing or limits on crowd size are overridden by a state mandate that will not allow local communities to enforce restrictions that are tighter than the very lax state recommendations.

 

The vaccine effect in Florida is a joke. Once again, there is no state level plan to distribute vaccines or get them in people's arms.  It is left to each county to decide how vaccines will be handled and this has lead to a stressful Covid Hunger Games mentality in those trying to obtain a vaccine. 

 

At least residency requirements have now been put in place to stop the vaccine tourists.

 

It is also now being obvious that data collection for the state has been manipulated to hide the true numbers of cases and deaths.

 

This all plays out to a situation where a cruise line will have to decide if passengers can safely be brought into a port to board a ship. That is not possible for the first quarter of 2021 and may also prove to be true for the second quarter.

 

I had a cruise booked for the beginning of April which I cancelled in December because of the Covid 19 situation here in Florida.

 

I was optimistic when vaccines received Emergency Use Authorizations and hoped the situation might improve and booked a cruise leaving Miami at the end of July.

 

I have until April to reassess  and cancel before final payment.

[capriccio]

Homosassa - an excellent description of the situation in Florida, especially here in South Florida (the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach area).

[Homosassa]

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

Homosassa - an excellent description of the situation in Florida, especially here in South Florida (the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach area).

My county (Citrus, one hour north of Tampa) has a positivity rate of 15%.

[Homosassa]

On 1/24/2021 at 5:36 PM, DrSea said:

 

(Before anyone chastises me for cruising during a pandemic, I am fully vaccinated and in my 30s, so I am low risk for COVID.)

It doesn't matter what your risk is.

 

Unless you will wear a mask and socially distance (self quarantine for 14 days before traveling and isolate upon arrival in Florida before boarding the ship), you may still have an inapparent covid infection and spread it to others.

 

In a nut shell, all the transient vacationers in Florida who have no qualms in going maskless and socializing are a big factor in the spread of Covid 19 in Florida.

[paulh84]

I think MSC has taken some solid steps to move forward which to a degree convinced us to book MSC for the first time. However from a US perspective, even if cruises could resume, I unfortunately don't have any faith whatsoever that any Caribbean port would allow a ship to enter and unload passengers. 

Edited January 26, 2021 by paulh84

[Homosassa]

I was on the last US sailing of the Armonia from Miami in March 2020.

 

I was impressed at the precautions taken by MSC for that cruise and felt safe on the ship.

 

I do have a reservation on the Meraviglia Miami departure for the end of July.  As I have until April until final payment, I will reassess the conditions here in Florida  and decide if I will cancel.

[cellfree]

On 1/25/2021 at 12:40 PM, deweytrader said:

I am fully expecting my 4/10/21 sailing on the Meraviglia to be canceled any day now.  

We are April 10th also, waiting for email about cancellation, all other Lines seem to have cancelled now through April 30, 2021. I am  happy to take the 125% FCC, what I do not like is having to wait so long for FCC to show and ultimatley to use that FCC. I like to plan ahead, am researching cruises now, but I cannot use any FCCs (I am still waiting for my FCC from a February cancellation - have to wait until February 1 to get that one) until they show up.

[BoundForSea]

I moved my April to May on my own. Last time I waited months for the credit, I’m not doing that anymore. Not worth the 25% all that uncertainty and wouldnt be able to rebook for a while. 

 

I still think MSC will be the first or second  to launch from the US, so not surprised they havent thrown in the towel for April yet. 

[ipeeinthepool]

On 1/25/2021 at 9:51 AM, Farts said:

where would the quarantine happen? at the port?

 

The experts are saying that we will spike in April, lol. 

 

 

I love your name 😀

[cellfree]

14 hours ago, BoundForSea said:

I moved my April to May on my own. Last time I waited months for the credit, I’m not doing that anymore. Not worth the 25% all that uncertainty and wouldnt be able to rebook for a while. 

You said you moved from April to May on your own. How did that work? Did MSC move all your funds form April cruise to May cruise in one step, no refunds, no waiting for anything?

[cruiseguyinorl]

Just saw an article yesterday, but I don't recall where, that the Director of Port Facilities at Port Canaveral is tentatively planning/hoping on a July restart. Though he didn't say which cruise lines.

Another cruise line I know has suites blacked out through June (as an educated guess - to limit the 125% FCC dollar amounts). And Celebrity just announced they plan on starting the Celebrity Edge here in the US (instead of Europe) in July.

To me, all signs point to July before even an attempt is made. Oh and NCL is now repatriating crew they had recalled for service. 😢

Bret 

[capriccio]

7 minutes ago, cruiseguyinorl said:

Just saw an article yesterday, but I don't recall where, that the Director of Port Facilities at Port Canaveral is tentatively planning/hoping on a July restart. Though he didn't say which cruise lines.

The news report is being discussed on the Florida Departures Board: 

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by capriccio

[hamrag]

2 hours ago, cruiseguyinorl said:

....To me, all signs point to July before even an attempt is made. Oh and NCL is now repatriating crew they had recalled for service. 😢

 

You think repatriation points to a July start....each to their own!

[cruiseguyinorl]

3 hours ago, hamrag said:

 

You think repatriation points to a July start....each to their own!

 

I think you missed my point of it not being any earlier than July. And yes, sending crew home now and recalling them at the end of May rather keeping them on an empty ship for another few months does make sense to me. But as you say...to each their own!

Bret

[dexddd]

15 hours ago, cruiseguyinorl said:

Just saw an article yesterday, but I don't recall where, that the Director of Port Facilities at Port Canaveral is tentatively planning/hoping on a July restart. Though he didn't say which cruise lines.

Another cruise line I know has suites blacked out through June (as an educated guess - to limit the 125% FCC dollar amounts). And Celebrity just announced they plan on starting the Celebrity Edge here in the US (instead of Europe) in July.

To me, all signs point to July before even an attempt is made. Oh and NCL is now repatriating crew they had recalled for service. 😢

Bret 

I saw it too.  A bit confusing, said one ship from four lines.  And something about 50% capacity.

 

Thinking that would be Royal, Carny, NCL, and the mouse.

 

Fully understood your NCL comment based on thread on NCL board about Joy captain announcement.  I did not listen to the ten minutes but blurp I did hear was they'd get back home early March using Joy and Escape.  Joy was in Aruba and did a spin the other day.

[dexddd]

Correction, supposedly Encore and Joy.

[paulh84]

While it's understandable with some that holds the Port Director title is hopeful of a restart sooner than later, I don't see any substantiation to that claim. The was an Executive Order on 1/21 that essentially gave seaports 14 days to produce a report for their plans. Elements of those plans almost certainly will impact passenger cruises in some way and the truth is, no one knows what those plans are yet.

 

The fact that NCL has started yet another repatriation that will not even be complete until end of March/early April - 60+ days away - also paints quite a different picture. 

[NCTribeFan]

I had to make final payment last Saturday on the 7-night portion of my Armonia April sailings.  The 4-night leg (which is to start the cruise) isn't due for another couple of weeks.  I hope that by then MSC will have cancelled them.  I'll take a refund on the 4-night and an FCC on the 7-night.

 

That will make 10 cancellations, one X sailing I did a Lift & Shift on, and 1 NCL TA I cancelled on my own.  I've taken FCCs on all of them so far and have 7 re-bookings plus the L&S out there from December 2021 to May 2023 on Carnival, HAL, X & NCL.  May as well add a re-booking on MSC to the mix!

 

Got vaccine #1 on Tuesday.  Just hoping the vaccinations will work on the mutations and, if not, I'll gladly get a booster as often as needed.  And, yes, I'll sail even if I have to wear a mask and remain distanced, as long as I believe it's fairly safe to do that.