Do you think DCL might change ports for late 2021 sailings?

[Canadian Girl]

I have a Greek cruise booked for June 2021 which I am almost certainly cancelling a second time, so booked a Christmas 6 day out of Miami on the Magic for my daughter and myself, before she ages out of the Vibe. If Mexico still does not have good control of Covid at that point, do you think the cruise might be relocated to other ports? I am also in Canada so hoping our border is reopened by then as people get vaccinated. I am not sailing if there is any appreciable amount of risk.

 

[tvguy]

I think IF June 2021 cruises aren't canceled, there is a high likelihood that ports might change. Not every nation is going to be at the same point in covid recovery. And to be honest, some nations may not want a ship full of international passengers that they aren't 100% certain aren't bringing the virus with them into their nations.
I think we will have vaccines pretty much underway in the U.S. by then, if they get the current supply shortages ironed out. But not sure about other nations and whether the ships will have all their staff vaccinated by then.

 

[Cheburashka]

Key West has voted large cruise ships off their island, so Disney won't be stopping there. I suspect that most Caribbean islands and the Bahamas will be eager for tourists to return by summer, so most of them will probably be open. I think Canada and Europe will stay closed longer.

 

[Canadian Girl]

I am not sure tourists otoh will want to do excursions in places that might still be having Covid outbreaks no matter how much these places want cruise ships to return.

 

[mmackeymouse]

Unfortunately, I don't have any good answers. Your guess is as good as mine. I am pretty sure that ports are definitely going to be evaluated on a case by case basis. And, like the pp said, the port cities themselves may have restrictions the cruise lines will have to work around.

I'm personally scheduled for a double-dip in November, so I am feeling relatively confident that ports won't be massively affected. Either we stop at Nassau, or we don't. My guess would be it would be an extra sea day. But, since 2 of the port days are at Castaway Cay, Disney has control of a large majority of the itinerary.

@Cheburashka. shoot....Key West was going to be my suggestion as an alternative to Nassau or the Caribbean Islands.

Regardless of how eager the Bahamas are for tourism, I still think DCL, and cruise ships in general, will be reluctant to stop there. Considering how crowded the areas close to the dock are, and considering I don't have high confidence that the people of Nassau, specifically, have been strict about sanitizing and social distancing....I personally wouldn't feel comfortable getting off the ship there. I imagine many passengers feel the same way.

I suppose I could see a scenario where it's sort of a "closed loop" excursion process where, they dock at Nassau, and people are able to get off and go on excursions that are in a much more controlled environment and steps can be taken to prove that measures are being taken to be safe. Other than those specific excursions which Disney can sanction as "acceptable," no one would be allowed off the ship. That's a possibility.

 

[tvguy]

Key West has voted large cruise ships off their island, so Disney won't be stopping there. I suspect that most Caribbean islands and the Bahamas will be eager for tourists to return by summer, so most of them will probably be open. I think Canada and Europe will stay closed longer.

Time will tell on the Caribbean and Bahamas. One outbreak could fill their limited hospital capacities quickly. I am getting mixed messages on how the region feels. They need the business, but one outbreak from a passenger could wipe them out for years.

 

[Canadian Girl]

My cruise goes to two Mexican ports. Mexico isn’t doing well right now.

 

[Intr3pid]

My cruise goes to two Mexican ports. Mexico isn’t doing well right now.

Yucatan peninsula - the Mexican Caribbean region where Cancun, Cozumel, etc are - is doing much better than, say, Mexico City. Bringing a cruise ship full of passengers will, of course, be at a different level, but their hotels are already reaching 80% occupancy, and the transmission rates remain relatively low.

I doubt Canadian ports will open for the summer Alaskan season.

European ports have a better chance, and they might even start opening up sooner than those in the US. A lot of it depends on the vaccine rollout in the spring and early summer - and how the new virus mutations react to the vaccines.

 

[Canadian Girl]

I am cancelling my Greek cruise and hoping to book Alaska for 2022. My obb credit will expire at the end of May 2022, unless DCL extends them, but right now, I was told, there are no plans to do so. Agree that I doubt Canada will be open to large cruise ships until maybe the fall at the earliest.

 

[Buzzster]

We are on the June Greek Isles cruise as well. I have our hotel pre-cruise but need to book flights. We had a great 30% discount that would expire by July 21. I think I should cancel but i hate to lose that great discount. So frustrated about what to do.

 

[spiders]

My cruise goes to two Mexican ports. Mexico isn’t doing well right now.

Mexico has wanted people to come for a while now. Flights from the US to Cancun are leaving all the time...many of those flights are seeing larger airplanes on them, Delta is even flying a daily A330 flight.

 

[Canadian Girl]

We are on the June Greek Isles cruise as well. I have our hotel pre-cruise but need to book flights. We had a great 30% discount that would expire by July 21. I think I should cancel but i hate to lose that great discount. So frustrated about what to do.

We had everything booked for our June Greek cruise in 2020, flights, hotels etc. It was very hard to cancel everything but in the end, everything was cancelled anyway. With the new variant and all the uncertainty, I now doubt any cruises might go this summer. I might be able to talk my daughter into an Alaskan cruise for the end of May 2022 if I can convince her the 18-20 group might be an option. She will just have had her 18 th birthday.

 

[Cheburashka]

I could imagine DCL starting with Castaway Cay cruises and doing only those for quite awhile upon the resumption of cruising.

 

[MomOTwins]

I have a Greek cruise booked for June 2021 which I am almost certainly cancelling a second time, so booked a Christmas 6 day out of Miami on the Magic for my daughter and myself, before she ages out of the Vibe. If Mexico still does not have good control of Covid at that point, do you think the cruise might be relocated to other ports? I am also in Canada so hoping our border is reopened by then as people get vaccinated. I am not sailing if there is any appreciable amount of risk.

I really don't see the U.S. getting its vaccination act together by then, so I doubt Florida will be all that safe compared to Canada either. Ugh, I hate that I'm that debbie downer now, but things here are just so bad--we can't even get our nursing home residents and frontline medical workers vaccinated in a timely fashion, and without wasting vaccines going bad on the shelf!

But to the question, I think it is very likely DCL will change itineraries based on where it can have controlled excursions with a few trusted vendors. Fewer ports/excursions=fewer opportunities for a weak link where the virus slips on board. Cozumel seems much more likely than Costa Maya to me, because Cozumel is used by all of the Fantasy Western cruises so DCL probably has repeat vendors there they can work out "bubble" policies with. Costa Maya is an infrequent cruise stop for DCL, so seems unlikely they would want to go through all the hassle of making those kinds of arrangements only to have a handful of cruises stop there.

 

[Cheburashka]

I don't see any Alaska cruises happening this summer that involve Canada (in other words, 99% of Alaskan cruises). I think Canada is even less likely than Europe to accept American travelers.

 

[mmackeymouse]

I don't see any Alaska cruises happening this summer that involve Canada (in other words, 99% of Alaskan cruises). I think Canada is even less likely than Europe to accept American travelers.

I dunno. Just a couple of days ago, they instituted some rules for international travelers who arrive via airplane. I don't think it would be a huge leap to expect they may institute similar, albeit maybe more strict, rules for international travelers via boat.

Especially when their travel industry likely needs a shot in the arm that cruising would provide.

If CDC/CLIA and/or the individual cruise companies, require vaccines, or even daily testing...that may soften the butter for Canada to be willing to open up their ports to visitors.

 

[Starwind]

I dunno. Just a couple of days ago, they instituted some rules for international travelers who arrive via airplane. I don't think it would be a huge leap to expect they may institute similar, albeit maybe more strict, rules for international travelers via boat.

But keep in mind that even with the new testing requirement, Canada's border is closed to most foreign nationals.

See: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/coronavirus-covid19/visitors.html

List of who is currently eligible to travel to Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...s-covid19/travel-restrictions-exemptions.html

To protect Canadians from the outbreak of COVID-19, the Prime Minister announced travel restrictions that limit travel to Canada. Until further notice, most foreign nationals cannot travel to Canada, even if they have a valid visitor visa or electronic travel authorization (eTA).

These restrictions stop most non-essential (discretionary) travel to Canada.