Nervous about cruising since 2019!!!

[Lvshack]

Hi ship mates ... I'm excited & still very nervous about starting cruising again after a long time since sept 2019 ( fabulous silver spirit Venetian reunion) .. have had 2 cancellation cruises since but now booked for Nov 2022 silver dawn ( again special Venetian reunion sailing) ..I know lots of you have been cruising again since 2021 ..lois, Lola jp etc to name a few !! So why I'm I so questioning my decision now after booking last August when I thought it must be all over by then !!!🙏.. I'm not worried about wearing face masks ..it's just the thought of being on the ship & testing positive & having to stay in isolation for ???..I welcome your feed back... Just another question .. whilst I'm in Palma Mallorca in July silver dawn is in port what are the chances of look around as day visitor 😉

[jpalbny]

Yup, we did 2 cruises in late 2021 and just got back from a land trip to Slovenia and Croatia. Travel is definitely coming back. But it is surely different and the thought of Covid-related disruptions to your plans is always going to be there. There is absolutely no getting around that.

 

We don't have any future cruises booked at the moment. We had a lot of fun on our most recent two cruises but until we find a fantastic itinerary, or until requirements chill out a little bit, we won't book any more cruises. We are planners and detail-oriented so when the requirements change so frequently it drives us bonkers.

 

The constant masking was not a huge problem for us; we still have to mask at work, so no big deal. The testing requirements pre-cruise and pre-travel are manageable, BUT require a lot of work to keep up to date so we can do without that. Since there are ways to travel which require fewer testing requirements than a cruise does, that's where you'll find us in the short term. 

Eventually this will settle down and once we have confidence in the vaccines, treatments, and how they apply to new variants going forward, these requirements will lessen significantly. When this will happen is anyone's guess.

 

But back to your question - despite the requirements, the cruises were still a lot of fun and the good outweighed the annoyances. It's just that there are ways to shed some of those annoyances which are unique to cruising, so those non-cruise trips are looking even better these days.

[lincslady]

Lvshack - you have mixed me up with someone else; I have not cruised for about 4 years, and am not likely to for a while, as I lost my other half at the end of last year.  Maybe one day I will feel like cruising again, and pluck up the courage.  This leads me to say to you, while you are able to do so, you should make the most of life, and try not to worry about things.  I find that the memories of good times are much more important to me now than possessions.  Go for it while you are young and fit enough!  I know you have some medical problems, so do I, but at least we are here!!

 

Lola

[Lvshack]

6 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Lvshack - you have mixed me up with someone else; I have not cruised for about 4 years, and am not likely to for a while, as I lost my other half at the end of last year.  Maybe one day I will feel like cruising again, and pluck up the courage.  This leads me to say to you, while you are able to do so, you should make the most of life, and try not to worry about things.  I find that the memories of good times are much more important to me now than possessions.  Go for it while you are young and fit enough!  I know you have some medical problems, so do I, but at least we are here!!

 

Lola

Oh bless you Lola please accept my apologies to you .but as you have been posting ( I have not really payed attention to😞) I know from a post some time back now you had mentioned the passing of your dear husband and I'm sorry to hear of his passing !!..

I maybe should not have made a new thread as it's probably under the the tread of future reopening plan ( !!!??) But anyway .. yes I will continue to enjoy the cruising experience as I have done since 1989 !! ...my medical condition has changed since 2013 with a blood cancer diagnosis of myeloma 2012 !! But I'm this July 8 years after stem cell and still ready to Boggie !!💃.. I'm just frustrated about all the protocol on not just cruising but all travel other then UK !! 

[Lvshack]

well me again !! I'm at home now watching our local news and to be honest ..why I'm I worried about sailing on on fabulous cruise ship when there is do much still going on in the Ukraine!!! It's so so sad ..and on other posts people wondering what champagne, or cavair being served !!! In the scheme of things is that all you have to worry about ??!!! 😞

[SLSD]

On 4/19/2022 at 1:14 PM, Lvshack said:

well me again !! I'm at home now watching our local news and to be honest ..why I'm I worried about sailing on on fabulous cruise ship when there is do much still going on in the Ukraine!!! It's so so sad ..and on other posts people wondering what champagne, or cavair being served !!! In the scheme of things is that all you have to worry about ??!!! 😞

I totally understand what you are saying in this post.  But, I was roundly criticized and basically told to get lost when I said something similar in a Facebook Silversea group.  I think we all are so horrified about what is happening to the people of Ukraine--and sometimes it hits us when we read what sounds like frivolity.  I was on a Silversea voyage when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and I remember feeling guilty for being out and about having fun.  Let's just hope that we are not always going to have to witness this kind of evil and tragedy and can get back to focussing on Champagne and caviar without compunction.  

[saminina]

Basically agree with JP's post.    If I had cruised during 2021, no way would we be booking future cruises.     There are too many ifs today to lay out money on cruises.    Recent crossing on Moon was fine, but I was one of very few paying customers.  No hassles on board, but pre and post cruise could have proven a disaster for different reasons.    

 

Items included in the cruise tariff like caviar and champagne.   Would it be better to discuss on disaster relief message boards?    Another good reason not to cruise today would be to avoid the shame of enjoying yourself while so much suffering is happening all around us......like Chicago and Los Angeles and NYC.  And.....well, it is a very long list.

[brittany12]

Lvshack and others, I totally share your consternation at demonstrated caviar and champagne concerns while an entire European country is destroyed by a madman. That you for pointing this out. Even with future covid concerns alleviated,  and the war somehow ended, Russia and its cities will be personna non grata for many years to come. The tourist industry there is dead. I'm so happy my spouse and I got to visit  several times, but would never go again even if allowed. The Back Sea is now a war zone and closed to cruising.

[Clodia]

I have been to Russia several times, and Ukraine, and I love the ordinary people I met in both countries. It is tragic that this war is continuing, and I feel sad for the people who suffer, and also that I won't get to visit their countries again. They were both beautiful.

[lincslady]

I think we pretty much all have this dilemma about how can we even think about luxuries like cruising, champagne and caviar, with the current world situation.  My own decision is to try to compartmentalise things; read and watch about Ukraine, feel what we all feel  about it (mainly why the rest of the world is unable to do nothing really useful to stop it - and knowing the answer to that), and then I need to get on with my own life and think about my family and friends, and even frivolous things, in order to stay reasonably well balanced.  I am pleased to say that a family in my very small village has a Ukrainian mother with teenage twins arriving to stay with them  this week, so we may all get to meet them.

 

Lola

 

[frantic36]

1 hour ago, Clodia said:

I have been to Russia several times, and Ukraine, and I love the ordinary people I met in both countries. It is tragic that this war is continuing, and I feel sad for the people who suffer, and also that I won't get to visit their countries again. They were both beautiful.

 

This is true that the average person are mainly good people. However after having just taken supplies to Ukrainian refugees who have arrived here in Perth, Australia, who are desperately trying to acclimatise to a new situation while worrying about family still in Ukraine, I know where most of my sympathy and concern lies.

[Dolcevita Diva]

On 4/25/2022 at 8:17 AM, lincslady said:

I think we pretty much all have this dilemma about how can we even think about luxuries like cruising, champagne and caviar, with the current world situation.  My own decision is to try to compartmentalise things; read and watch about Ukraine, feel what we all feel  about it (mainly why the rest of the world is unable to do nothing really useful to stop it - and knowing the answer to that), and then I need to get on with my own life and think about my family and friends, and even frivolous things, in order to stay reasonably well balanced.  I am pleased to say that a family in my very small village has a Ukrainian mother with teenage twins arriving to stay with them  this week, so we may all get to meet them.

 

Lola

 

Well said.  I was aghast at a thread that I read on a frequent flyer forum this morning, where the crew on a transatlantic Air Canada flight moved a Ukrainian refugee up to an empty business class seat. The original poster and many others were discussing writing in to complain about this!!!

One decision that I’m contemplating relates to a possible Northern Europe itinerary this year.   St. Petersburg is of course permanently off my list now, but other countries/ports on the itinerary were/are of as much interest to me.    

But I am conflicted about visiting Gdańsk (one of the ports) this year.  Poland is doing so much to support Ukrainian refugees - does tourism strain their resources at this critical time or is it helpful to support their tourism industry now? 

But then I also wonder whether there might be an opportunity to assist by volunteering on our day in port and perhaps bring/donate some needed supplies.  

[Tothesunset]

3 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

Well said.  I was aghast at a thread that I read on a frequent flyer forum this morning, where the crew on a transatlantic Air Canada flight moved a Ukrainian refugee up to an empty business class seat. The original poster and many others were discussing writing in to complain about this!!!
 

Sometimes you just have to wonder at the crassness of some people. You'd rather hope that had there not been a free seat, someone with a modicum of humanity might have given theirs up.