Cruise

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Dear Globetrotter: 

Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line have multiple cruises scheduled to leave from US ports in September and October. However, each one must still be approved by the CDC before being allowed to depart, with those decisions to be made closer to the embarkation dates.

Canada’s ban on ships carrying more than 100 people in its territorial waters, originally scheduled to end March 1, 2022 (April ’21, pg. 5), was amended on July 16 to end Nov. 1, 2021.

Canada’s ban affected cruises from the US to Alaska, since a federal law required that any cruise ship of non-US registry leaving from a US seaport must make at least one stop in a foreign port before returning to the US. That law was temporarily suspended starting in June in order to facilitate Alaska cruises, which typically depart from Seattle.

The Centers for Disease Control approved Royal Caribbean International’s Freedom of the Seas to embark from Miami on July 2 for a Bahamas cruise — the second cruise approved to leave from the US since the CDC suspended cruising on March 14, 2020.

"... on May 10 [2021], I sent an email to Samo Toplak, CEO of Value World Cruises, requesting a refund and explaining why.

He agreed to reimburse our entire payment, and on May 14 it was deposited directly into my checking account. ..."

(excerpt from Dorothy Botnick's letter)

 As someone who has visited over 100 countries, I highly recommend taking a week-long windjammer cruise off the coast of Maine.

My wife and I have done this four times, the first trip around 30 years ago. It’s always a delightful experience, though it bears no resemblance to a traditional cruise. (The word “cruise” evokes certain experiences to seasoned travelers, but anyone expecting anything remotely similar to that will be disappointed.)

My wife, Sally, and I experienced a unique 2-week trip to Alaska in 2007. We flew commercial airlines, New York-Seattle-Juneau, and then the former Era Aviation from Juneau to Gustavus, the starting point of our 6-day Glacier Bay cruise on the Sea Wolf of Sea Wolf Adventures (Gustavus, AK; 907/957-1438, seawolfadventures.net).

The Centers for Disease Control approved a Caribbean cruise scheduled to leave from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on June 26 with Celebrity Cruises (888/751-7804, www.celebritycruises.com), making it the first paid cruise to depart from the US since March 2020. Other lines had previously been approved for test cruises, ones without paying passengers.

In order to skip the testing phase, Celebrity guaranteed that at least 95% of the crew and passengers would be vaccinated for COVID-19.

"2020 was going to be a good year for travel, as my husand, Leo, and I had two international trips planned. On April 13 we were to depart on the 'Essential Holland & Belgium Culinary River Cruise' with Vantage Deluxe World Travel -- our fourth trip with Vantage. ..."

-- excerpt from Ann Cyr's letter