Where oh where

[laurieb]

do you think the ships will sail the next few months?  I wonder if Alaska might be in the future, or west coast sailings or even Hawaii

[takemewithyou]

We would like to see some west coast sailings to Hawaii, Alaska, CA coast with Ensenada stops, etc.  Is French Polynesia open??

*Ensenada only for the required foreign port

Edited July 4, 2021 by takemewithyou

[takemewithyou]

French Polynesia….I just googled and they reopened to US travellers 5/1/21.

Let’s go! 

[laurieb]

yes but at this time I believe still only US; I'm sure that will change in time

[takemewithyou]

When do you expect we might see some announcements from Azamara as to where to next?

[laurieb]

last I heard was sometime this month

[TeaBag]

I'm waiting too for the new itineraries.

[ECCruise]

They have a lot of itineraries to maneuver.

1st, the replacement itineraries for all the cancelled cruises on all 3 ships.

2nd, the Onward itineraries from the end of 2012 through Q1 of 2023, to catch up to the other 3 ships.

3rd, all the itineraries from March 2023 forward (which I think will be the last things to drop).

[curmudgeon98]

I think they are looking at vaccination rates is various corners of the world and figuring there is very high likelihood of additional waves of the virus.  In addition to places like Aus/NZ which will remain locked down, many other countries will likely be erring on the conservative side when it comes to accepting a ship which previously stopped in a country with high infections rates.  It's tough to plan winter itineraries which have a good chance of making most of their ports (and getting passengers home afterwards without quarantine).

 

Having one ship in the Caribbean and one in Western Med may be the best they can do until spring, given the demand and options.  Having a ship on the west coast for CA/Mexico/Hawaii might seem like an option, but that's not  typically a big market and it might be tough to sell enough cabins to be worthwhile on short notice.  

[laurieb]

I think that west coast cruises would sell quite well in the coming months. Perhaps not a big market in the past, but cruising is in a different place right now and there is demand for US citizens in particular for close to home but not the Caribbean. 

[excitedofharpenden]

It's hard to tell what's in the plans. I can't see Hawaii and French Polynesia though.  They have traditionally been stopping off places on the way to or from Australia rather than a destination in their own right.  
 

One of the issues is the Azamara ship speed for those itineraries takes longer with lots of sea days. And for a destination immersion cruiseline that doesn't fit. The Jones Act also stuffs it up for anything different. 
 

Phil 

[Roel94]

On 7/5/2021 at 11:50 PM, laurieb said:

I think that west coast cruises would sell quite well in the coming months. Perhaps not a big market in the past, but cruising is in a different place right now and there is demand for US citizens in particular for close to home but not the Caribbean. 

I would be happy to do a RT or two to Mexico or Hawaii. CA coast in winter just is not warm enough and the idea is to get away in winter.