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Today’s photos are from May 12, 2016. Please click here for more details.
In the past 7½ plus years, we’ve sailed on 27 cruises. For us, cruising has been a substantial part of our worldwide experience. Also, we’ve cruised as a means of getting us to one part of the world to another, often staying for extended periods at the location (or nearby) of disembarkation.
At this point, there are thousands of media sources spewing their opinions on when and how the cruise industry will open, if ever. Thus, I am not selecting a link to review with the same number of varying opinions that we may or may not agree with.
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| The beach on Mystery Island is a port of call from Sydney to Seattle from this post here on May 12, 2017. |
Enthusiastic cruisers each must formulate their own opinions as to when and if we’ll cruise again, once the cruise industry gets back to business. In the interim, this could be many months away or even a year away.
Currently, we have four cruises booked (three in and around Japan), but we’re more interested in the one upcoming in November, a mere six months from now. We’ve heard nothing from Azamara regarding canceling this cruise on their ship, the Journey, with a capacity of 690 passengers.
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| A thatched hut on the island. |
We were looking forward to this cruise that sails from Lisbon to Cape Town. Initially, we planned to return to Marloth Park at the end of the cruise, December 2, 2020, after spending two or three days in Cape Town which we’ve yet to visit.
The appeal of this cruise was not only its ending point, but also the scheduled ports of call which are listed here at this site, the small number of passengers, and a number of included perks such as WiFi and beverages.
The price we paid for both of us for this 22-night cruise was INR 996,146, US $13,251, and is now listed at a much higher price at INR 1672671, US $22,252.We certainly hoped to capitalize on this excellent pricing for this high-end cruise with such exciting ports of call.
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| Ship passengers were browsing the tropical island. |
In all likelihood, this cruise will be canceled. The question for us remains… Will we go ahead with this cruise if it doesn’t cancel? We both feel, at this point, especially if we can’t get to South Africa sooner, we would like to go ahead and keep the booking following whatever Covid-19 precautions they establish for this relatively low number of passengers.
There’s no doubt in our minds that if the cruise isn’t canceled that social distancing and face masks will be a part of the experience. This may mean the single most enjoyable aspect of cruising, table sharing at breakfast and dinner, may become a thing of the past. We can live with this.
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| Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas. |
After all these years of traveling together, we can easily enjoy just the two of us, which has easily been reaffirmed after we’ve spent the past two months in lockdown in a small hotel room in Mumbai.
We may be bored with our situation but, miraculously, we’re not bored with one another. We still laugh, talk, share dreams and hopes and frequently discuss what’s going on in the world and information on Covid-19. This has been our saving grace, keeping us upbeat and emotionally balanced during this trying and unusual situation.
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| Jetty in the coral reef in Vanuatu. |
Cruises or not, we hope to continue, although we accept and realize that many aspects of world travel will change in many ways that we may not even know at this point.
May you continue safely during this challenging time with good health and a hopeful state of mind.
Photo from one year ago today, May 12, 2019:
There was no post on this date one year ago as we made our way to Ireland with a full day of travel.