gretchendz

So, obviously it is your call. I would say, however, that the cruise lines are taking this very seriously. I think if the virus has spread significantly to any of your ports, they will likely reroute or even cancel. The 14 day protocols for people who have been to infected areas will almost certainly still be in place. Finally, it is possible to buy "cancel for any reason" insurance so that if you get near the sailing date and just don't feel you can tolerate any risk, you could recover your cruise fare (minus cost of insurance, of course). A travel agent could get you multiple quotes for cancel for any reason insurance.

Cruising is wonderful!

mahasamatman

I expect some cruise fares to plummet in the short-term. Good time to book.

MSPeconomist

Longer term, I expect cancel for any reason insurance rates to go up.

In the meantime, is the total cost of the cruise (including airfare and extras) plus cancel for any reason insurance less than the normal cruise prices (with airfare etc.) and standard insurance?

Randyk47

Because of my wife’s schooling we won’t be able to cruise again until late 2021. I’m going to research now and see if I can find the Baltic cruise she’d like to take then put it on the “watch list”. I too expect cruise fares to plummet before this all gets better. Could take two to three years to settle out like after 9/11.

Randyk47

Prices haven’t responded very much yet though I expect they will. The first test will be the upcoming Alaska season. In an already close to saturated market I expect that, as irrational as I feel it is, people will be driven away from the fear of being in a “floating germ factory”. No interest or time to cruise Alaska but there could be some real bargains in the next 90 to 120 days.

YVR Cockroach

I've been following the price of a late April HAL cruise from Japan to Vancouver (looking at booking the seasonal migration of a sister ship in September) to see how it responds, at least once final payment window comes. The ship (I think it was the Westerdam) disappeared yesterday from all schedules until May (Alaska run). Was ported in Yokohama for the winter but nothing out of Yokohama for HAL until October.

YVR Cockroach

I submitted this just over 2 weeks ago when the whole thing was starting

At that time

Respectively 41.69 (-5.5%), 106.11 (-10.1%) , 46.97 (-14.6%) as of close of market yesterday. if I followed my own advice/gut instinct , it would have paid for a nice cruise!

Happy

Do not see any price break on European sailing whether it is for the Northern Europe or the Med.

All Asian cruises are canceled. Australia and NZ itineraries are canceled thru mid to late March that is it so far.

Suez canal crossing from Dubai to Europe will continue and there is no price break based on what are shown on Vacationtogo.

I read about someone's genuine solution on their NCL Jade B2B cruises - originally from SIN to Dubai then continues to Rome. The SIN to Dubai finally is canceled, full refund on both cruise and loss suffered on air but not hotel (Princess paid hotels and other nonrefundable expenses as well), 25% future cruise credit based on the fare paid on the canceled cruise. Now they have the Dubai to Rome still intact but the airfares to Dubai is very expensive due to close in (Mid March.) Their solution is to sail on RCL's Allure of the Sea FLL-BCN leaving on March 1st. Then fly BCN-DXB to catch the NCL's Jade to Rome.

Cheaper than paying the airfare to Dubai from North America at close in, and get another cruise on a class of ship they have not sailed on before.

We are keeping our Sky Princess TATL, but successfully get a modification at disembarkation port from St. Petersburg to Tallinn - not because fearing of the infection but because Russia temporary suspends Entry of Chinese citizens that also incl HKSAR and Macao SAR.
The cruise remains sold out from the day we booked. The following round trip St. Petersburg also is sold out. - that rules out the chance for us to stay onboard not enter Russia. Therefore we have to modify our port of disembarkation.

We have Lake Como as the last week of our post cruise land portion but now Lombardy region has a huge outbreak - all thanks to a guy return from China 3 weeks ago, who now has been the source that infected over 60 persons.... That guy was asymptomatic for 3 weeks and even ran a half marathon before came down with the infection!!!

Happy

Have you not known the news of Westerdam? That ship was not able to dock at any Asian port until Cambodia took them in - all because the stupid HAL management followed WHO's advice at that time, and picked up 200+ passengers from Hong Kong on Feb 1st.

Cambodia claimed all tested negative and let the whole ship's passengers out, even provided day tour for them...

At least one couple from Westerdam was stopped at Kulua Lumpur when they flew from Cambodia to KUL en route to return to US - the wife did not pass temperature check point, and was tested positive subsequently.

FWIW, Westerdam was refused to dock by Taiwan, Japan (2 ports), Vietnam, Singapore and Guam. Thailand initially agreed to let them dock and the passengers to fly from BKK but rescinded the permit. Eventually Cambodia came in.... God knows how much the virus has since spread all over...

I doubt the ship would return to the roster soon, until it is thoroughly disinfected.

gretchendz

It varies (often a lot). So there will be many exceptions to this. Looking at just regular trip insurance, the general rule of thumb is that younger travelers tend to get better rates from outside insurers. Older passengers tend to get better insurance rates from the cruise lines.

Cancel for any reason tends to be quite a bit higher.

Also, some suppliers (usually land tour operators) will offer their own cancel for any reason at good rates or just have a good policy about cancellations. Sometimes, though, it's simply a dollar for dollar credit on a future trip.

I agree, I do expect to see increases due to the virus.

Bottom line, it takes a lot of research to figure out the best bet.

gretchendz

I predict that soon the two very cleanest ships at sea will be the Westdam and the Diamond Princess.

YVR Cockroach

Just don't keep name of ship in mind, just the line(s). Kind of surprised Carnival stock is the least negatively impacted out of the 3 in my hypothetical short portfolio. Westerdam is apparently off to Greece (according to Marinetraffic - for what reason I don't know - though I don't put much faith in the given ETA).

Happy

I dont believe Westerdam is on her way to Greece.

Cruisecritic has a long thread on Westerdam.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topi...e/54/#comments

I expect to see not long later there would be outbreak in Cambodia based on the posts in that thread.

This is HAL's official site on Westerdam's movement.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/...rdam-in-japan/

Details and itineraries regarding Westerdam deployment through early May will be provided in the coming days.

Carnival has much less capacity in Asia market than Royal Caribbeans. The 2 best and newest Mega RCL ships home port in China for example.

Carnival's brands in China are Costa's old ships. Majestic Princess has already called it a defeat on her China adventure since almost 2 years ago - despite homeport still in China, she sails Australia water far more often. The remaining Diamond Princess is homeport in Japan and can be considered a total loss this year, not only the Spring/Summer season. Sapphire Princess is in dry dock right now. She will sail to Australia 6 months earlier than scheduled, essentially cancelled all her sailings in Asia after dry/wet dock.

Happy

Doubt it. Even though in theory they should be thoroughly scrubbed... But things in practice do not always happen as they should have been.

Case in point, why there are continuous outbreak on the Noro? When every infected ship should be cleaned and disinfected thoroughly? Yet outbreaks resume, often on the same ships.

Happy

Expect 25% of the total fares as premium on the Cancel for Any Reasons.