Telephone call from P&O

[tring]

I think a number of us (including me), were seeing a return to something much more like a normal cruise schedule taking place in the autumn, albeit with itinerary changes were needed.  Moley has just put those thoughts into perspective, but logically he is right in that all will not just go into pre pandemic mode overnight.

 

My thoughts are that as two ships will already be crewed and in working mode, that they will continue to cruise, along with, perhaps another one shortly after, followed by the others, but when is the question.  What happens to itineraries is another matter and I still see potential changes and am also remembering Moleys previous comments about single country cruises being easier to start internationally, than ones which visit a selection of countries.  I do not see any green/amber issues arising as I see only really safe bet venues being visited by cruise ships, though hopefully the green list will have been expanded by then.

 

The issue I do see though is related to us being ahead with vaccines and now opening up.  Experts and politicians have said covid numbers are expected to increase, though if the NHS is not under strain by serious illness, there would not be a need to reduce our covid numbers, (vaccine resistant variants excepted).  Hence we could reach a stage when we are free to travel to other countries, but those countries consider us too much of a risk to allow entry by us.

 

A lot of twists and turns to come yet, but of course cruises never do sell easily in the run up to Christmas.

Edited May 21, 2021 by tring

[molecrochip]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Useful  comment as usual Moley.  What is your view on Britannia's likelihood of starting its European itineraries after the seacation cruises finish. Unless there are major changes to the traffic light countries, then most cruises will include an amber country with all the quarantine and testing costs that will be required, both of P&O and its passengers.

My view is that with some minor tweaks, I expect Britannia and Iona to pick up their planned voyages.

 

There is a lot of noise about the Canaries and Caribbean moving to the green list. If this happens I expect Britannia to reposition as planned. I would also expect Azura to recommence with her transatlantic to Barbados.

[molecrochip]

What the vaccine has done is cut the numerical link between infections, hospitalisations and death. As more data becomes available this will help influence decisions.

 

We may get another spike of infections but the hope is we won’t see a spike in deaths. At that point we can deal with Covid like the flu.

[crazy cat lady 83]

3 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

My view is that with some minor tweaks, I expect Britannia and Iona to pick up their planned voyages.

 

There is a lot of noise about the Canaries and Caribbean moving to the green list. If this happens I expect Britannia to reposition as planned. I would also expect Azura to recommence with her transatlantic to Barbados.

Thank you very much for your reply. That’s definitely given me a boost. We booked this cruise purely for Iona as the kids were desperate to try her so as long as we are on her we don’t care where we visit 😊

[terrierjohn]

1 minute ago, molecrochip said:

My view is that with some minor tweaks, I expect Britannia and Iona to pick up their planned voyages.

 

There is a lot of noise about the Canaries and Caribbean moving to the green list. If this happens I expect Britannia to reposition as planned. I would also expect Azura to recommence with her transatlantic to Barbados.

That still leaves me with a concern about the final Mediterranean cruise, which has scheduled ports in Spain, France and Italy, and I wonder if P&O will want to put their Caribbean season in jeopardy if this cruise goes ahead as planned.

[Dermotsgirl]

3 hours ago, molecrochip said:

P&O won't suddenly bring back another 4 ships in September. It is very much a phased return.

 

I have my own (pessimistic) views on Aurora and Arcadia's longer spring 2022 itineraries. My gut feel is that if they don't get ahead then those ships won't restart until Easter 2022.

 

But when does P&O make that decision - when will it have the necessary data to do so?

I was booked on the Arcadia 55 night cruise to Amazon and the Caribbean, due to leave in January 2022. As soon as the summer cruises for 2022 came out last autumn, I moved the Amazon cruise to something nearer to home. The Amazon cruise seemed too complicated, too long and too far away to go ahead. Nothing that’s happened since had changed my mind, especially as Brazil has been hammered by COVID. 
 

I can’t see how P&O can run these long cruises, so I believe they will be cancelled.

 

I think they will have enough on their plate trying to get the other ships up and running, so it seems entirely feasible that they wouldn’t bother with new stop gap itineraries for Aurora and Arcadia.

 

If this is the case, both ships will have been out of service for 2 years by next spring, so will need money spent of them to get them ready for passengers. 
 

Given the age of the ships, especially  Aurora, I have to wonder if P&O will want to spend money on them at all, so it may be that the ships never return under the P&O flag. 
 

That would be very sad indeed

Edited May 21, 2021 by Dermotsgirl

[Angel57]

3 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I was booked on the Arcadia 55 night cruise to Amazon and the Caribbean, due to leave in January 2022. As soon as the summer cruises for 2022 came out last autumn, I moved the Amazon cruise to something nearer to home. The Amazon cruise seemed too complicated, too long and too far away to go ahead. Nothing that’s happened since had changed my mind, especially as Brazil has been hammered by COVID. 
 

I can’t see how P&O can run these long cruises, so I believe they will be cancelled.

 

I think they will have enough on their plate trying to get the other ships up and running, so it seems entirely feasible that they wouldn’t bother with new stop gap itineraries for Aurora and Arcadia.

 

If this is the case, both ships will have been out of service for 2 years by next spring, so will need money spent of them to get them ready for passengers. 
 

Given the age of the ships, especially  Aurora, I have to wonder if P&O will want to spend money on them at all, so it may be that the ships never return under the P&O flag. 
 

That would be very sad indeed

I do hope you are wrong about Aurora, but sadly I have to agree that the outlook for her is doubtful.....

[hollyjess]

As I after reading some of the comments I am now wondering whether it will go ahead at all!(Christmas on Arcadia )

[Adawn47]

18 hours ago, molecrochip said:

P&O won't suddenly bring back another 4 ships in September. It is very much a phased return.

 

I have my own (pessimistic) views on Aurora and Arcadia's longer spring 2022 itineraries. My gut feel is that if they don't get ahead then those ships won't restart until Easter 2022.

 

But when does P&O make that decision - when will it have the necessary data to do so?

We're due on Arcadia October 9th this year, and I would think any decisions on cruising, apart from seacations, will be made after 21st June. I hate this feeing of being in limbo, and wondering whether it would be better to jump before we're pushed.

Nice to see you posting again Moley.

Avril

[Dermotsgirl]

7 minutes ago, hollyjess said:

As I after reading some of the comments I am now wondering whether it will go ahead at all!(Christmas on Arcadia )

In truth, nobody knows yet.

 

This summer, I had a coach holiday booked to see the Edinburgh Tattoo., carried forward from last year. Two weeks ago, I felt I could actually look forward to it, as it felt as it was going to happen. This week, the Edinburgh Tattoo was cancelled, as is the holiday.

I think the only thing any of us can do is wait and see, and not think too much about the things we have booked.