August 2021

[cruisegirl06]

What is everyone thinking will happen for August? We’re booked on the Panorama on the 28th, but getting close to final

payment. 
 

I don’t want to make final payment without a clear understanding of how probable it is the cruise would happen and what protocols/restrictions will be in place - BUT things seem to be shifting daily so I don’t know when to expect this.

 

Other August cruisers - what are you thinking? Any ideas of when we’ll get an update from Carnival?

[mondello]

Ask Carnival, PVP, TA or whoever you booked with, for an extension of final payment date just to be safe. They have been good about this. CDC is finally relaxing the restrictions and things are shaping up for a restart; especially with ships starting to move back towards U.S. ports.

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, cruisegirl06 said:

What is everyone thinking will happen for August? We’re booked on the Panorama on the 28th, but getting close to final

payment. 
 

I don’t want to make final payment without a clear understanding of how probable it is the cruise would happen and what protocols/restrictions will be in place - BUT things seem to be shifting daily so I don’t know when to expect this.

 

Other August cruisers - what are you thinking? Any ideas of when we’ll get an update from Carnival?

I'm 2 weeks behind you and think it will be around the same time next month, around june 8th before the next round of cancellations. I'm on vista one of the first ships carnival says they hope to restart, or I'd be even more negative. I'd say chances of your cruise arent very good unless the cdc quits its control. Unlikely. 

[bdever]

3 hours ago, cruisegirl06 said:

What is everyone thinking will happen for August? We’re booked on the Panorama on the 28th, but getting close to final

payment. 
 

I don’t want to make final payment without a clear understanding of how probable it is the cruise would happen and what protocols/restrictions will be in place - BUT things seem to be shifting daily so I don’t know when to expect this.

 

Other August cruisers - what are you thinking? Any ideas of when we’ll get an update from Carnival?

I’m on the Panorama on 9/18. My feeling is that you will be on Panorama’s 2nd sailing. I think Panorama will start on 8/21/21. I think you’re fine. 

[skrufy]

7 hours ago, cruisegirl06 said:

What is everyone thinking will happen for August? We’re booked on the Panorama on the 28th, but getting close to final

payment. 
 

I don’t want to make final payment without a clear understanding of how probable it is the cruise would happen and what protocols/restrictions will be in place - BUT things seem to be shifting daily so I don’t know when to expect this.

 

Other August cruisers - what are you thinking? Any ideas of when we’ll get an update from Carnival?

We are on Glory out of New Orleans this August 15th. Had a final payment extension to the end of this month, which is closing in on us rapidly. Things seem to be improving but very slowly. But don’t know what to expect. We have had a total of 6 cruises cancelled going back to the Mardi Gras construction delay September 2019. 

[ProgRockCruiser]

8 hours ago, cruisegirl06 said:

Other August cruisers - what are you thinking? Any ideas of when we’ll get an update from Carnival?

Completely unknown, really.

 

Yes, it looks like things are progressing towards limited cruising in July.  Which could easily mean lots more cruising in August.

 

But the order of opening of ports and re-starting of cruising activity is very unknown.

 

We're all just gonna have to wait until CCL makes actual announcments about firm plans, vs the (understandably so) vague plans about re-starting in July.

[TNcruising02]

I'm on the August 21st sailing of the Mardi Gras. I am hopeful that it will sail.  I think things are looking much better with the crews of various ships being vaccinated.  My backup plan is to keep my airline tickets to Florida and vacation there for a week if the cruise is cancelled.  I have not booked my pre-cruise hotel yet.  I'll do that after I check in for my cruise.

[firefly333]

I have only read of skeleton crews being vaccinated which worries me. Or ccl is still in talks with the cdc. Again they wouldnt be in talks if they had the green light to cruise. 

 

Hopefully all the good numbers will force the cdc to reconsider. Imo the whole change of well if you are 95/98 vaccinated you can cruise was just a way of making the cruiselines look like the bad guys. Had the cdc said you must be vaccinated they would look like the bad guys. It was a gotcha. Until we get the green light, I'm still dubious.

[IntrepidFromDC]

Conjecture, based on all the qualitative info we've seen so far (including the mediation deadline)... In addition to the 3 or 4 ships sailing in July, I think an additional 4 - 6 ships will sail in August.  Baltimore cruise port is open for business.

[kwbrad]

I am staying hopeful.  We are booked for Alaska 8/3 out of Seattle.  I was certain ours would be cancelled, but they have gone to the trouble of moving all of the bookings over to another ship and made the announcement that they are trying to sail.  I figure one of two things are true.  Either they (1) really do think they can make it happen or (2) they have gone to all of this trouble to reopen bookings and try to get more deposits to keep afloat.   For me, I think if they were just trying to get more deposits they could have made an annoucement about a different 4th ship, given that the likelihood of Alaska cruises has been so slim.  

Who knows.  I am not sure I will believe we are sailing until I am on the ship and we are pulling away from port.  

[TNcruising02]

16 minutes ago, kwbrad said:

I am not sure I will believe we are sailing until I am on the ship and we are pulling away from port.  

Same.  I think I will finally believe the ship is sailing once the muster drill is over and I am sipping some type of fruity drink. LOL.  After three cancellations, I have learned to just go with the flow.

[Robo1098]

I'm really interested to see what they have set up to get the crew vaccinated. They have approx 8 weeks. Seems like the ships may be ready but I want to hear more about crew vax. So far I've only heard of a couple hundred. 

[balcony bound]

3 minutes ago, Robo1098 said:

I'm really interested to see what they have set up to get the crew vaccinated. They have approx 8 weeks. Seems like the ships may be ready but I want to hear more about crew vax. So far I've only heard of a couple hundred. 

I would think its more than that, ships have been pulling into Florida and Texas for vaccinations.  Maybe elsewhere as well.

[firefly333]

3 minutes ago, balcony bound said:

I would think its more than that, ships have been pulling into Florida and Texas for vaccinations.  Maybe elsewhere as well.

The news clippings I've read had numbers like 140 were vaccinated.. nothing to indicate full crews are being vaccinated. Nothing to indicate a full crew is even onboard. ..with the exception of the rcl ship being diverted from israel and was ready to go. 

 

If anyone has another ship fully crewed by all means post it. I sure want vista to start july 3rd, but that's 5 weeks, not much time to get a crew onboard. Time to see some action. 

[Torchwood]

I am booked on Panorama for August 21, wondering the same. I agree don' t want to pay final if  masks are required and all vaccinated. I would rather cancel and rebook.

[phoneman69]

16 hours ago, cruisegirl06 said:

What is everyone thinking will happen for August? We’re booked on the Panorama on the 28th, but getting close to final

payment. 
 

I don’t want to make final payment without a clear understanding of how probable it is the cruise would happen and what protocols/restrictions will be in place - BUT things seem to be shifting daily so I don’t know when to expect this.

 

Other August cruisers - what are you thinking? Any ideas of when we’ll get an update from Carnival?

I believe that Carnival is still extending the final payment dates. Might give you a chance to collect more info. I have a Sept 12th on the Horizon

[joeyancho]

 We are on the Panorama 8/21/21 sailing. Final payment is 5/31.  Wish we knew more. 🤞

[mondello]

1 hour ago, Torchwood said:

I am booked on Panorama for August 21, wondering the same. I agree don' t want to pay final if  masks are required and all vaccinated. I would rather cancel and rebook.

With Galveston and Miami mentioned as first to restart, I'd put your chances at 50-50. Ask for and receive a final payment extension. Get OBC if they cancel. You can cancel as a last resort if you don't like the restrictions. A lot may change in the next 4-6 weeks but it looks like mask and excursion restrictions are or will be off the table by then.

[cruisegirl06]

Yes! I’m hoping for info soon. We’ve got kiddos under 12, so a fully vaccinated requirement would prevent us from sailing (unless kids are the 5%), but I also need to understand what will be open/restricted. If many activities are reservations only and pools/kids clubs are limited there are better vacation options for us this year. 

 

I don’t really want to extend final payment because I assume then I would lose my deposit at least (vs right now having the ability to cancel without penalty)…

[AHS123]

18 hours ago, mondello said:

Ask Carnival, PVP, TA or whoever you booked with, for an extension of final payment date just to be safe. They have been good about this. CDC is finally relaxing the restrictions and things are shaping up for a restart; especially with ships starting to move back towards U.S. ports.

When in August are you sailing? 

[hurricane0226]

3 hours ago, TNcruising02 said:

Same.  I think I will finally believe the ship is sailing once the muster drill is over and I am sipping some type of fruity drink. LOL.  After three cancellations, I have learned to just go with the flow.

A nice drink of the day, just to get things started. 

[mondello]

28 minutes ago, AHS123 said:

When in August are you sailing? 

I'm booked for 10/17/2021, Glory, NOLA. I'm rooting for an Aug. or Sept. restart so my ship comes in.

[ProgRockCruiser]

15 hours ago, Robo1098 said:

I'm really interested to see what they have set up to get the crew vaccinated. They have approx 8 weeks. Seems like the ships may be ready but I want to hear more about crew vax. So far I've only heard of a couple hundred. 

 

15 hours ago, balcony bound said:

I would think its more than that, ships have been pulling into Florida and Texas for vaccinations.  Maybe elsewhere as well.

All the ships pulling into ports for crew vax are staffed by skeleton crews.  So that's why it is only in the hundreds.

 

The full complement of crews won't be on board until right before they are ready to sail, I would guess.  I have no idea how/whether the cruise lines are doing mass vaccinations as part of their on-boarding of the new crew.  That is the crux of the matter, IMHO - how, where, and when?

[balcony bound]

24 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

 

All the ships pulling into ports for crew vax are staffed by skeleton crews.  So that's why it is only in the hundreds.

 

The full complement of crews won't be on board until right before they are ready to sail, I would guess.  I have no idea how/whether the cruise lines are doing mass vaccinations as part of their on-boarding of the new crew.  That is the crux of the matter, IMHO - how, where, and when?

What was on the news here as Disney and Carnival were in port (Port Canaveral) was they were set to do 1,000 vaccinations at PC.  Maybe they overestimated.  We had rented a cabin at Jetty Park and the ships were in, saw them, but anybody's guess how many vaccinations actually happened.  Vaccine is available and plentiful here for that purpose. 

[ProgRockCruiser]

1 hour ago, balcony bound said:

What was on the news here as Disney and Carnival were in port (Port Canaveral) was they were set to do 1,000 vaccinations at PC.  Maybe they overestimated.  We had rented a cabin at Jetty Park and the ships were in, saw them, but anybody's guess how many vaccinations actually happened.  Vaccine is available and plentiful here for that purpose. 

Well, I think they meant "up to 1000 per day total if demand required it".  And they could do three or four ships and hit that number, especially it if included shore-based personnel.