The roller coaster continues.

Most of the inquiries we get right now are directly related to the cancellation and rebooking of existing plans. 

The NEXT most common question is one we’d all like to have the answer to: “When can we cruise again?”.

Nobody knows the answer to that unless they have a particularly shiny crystal ball that can accurately foretell the future.

Virtually all the cruise lines have suspended their operations through to the end of June, and there is no doubt those companies debate daily about the return to service date. 

There are a number of variables that are completely out of the cruise lines’ control:

• The status of the pandemic itself, and whether it is advancing or retreating.
• Control measures that may be available in the future.  We’ve been told a vaccine is several months away, but better detection methods and treatments might become available sooner.
• Whether airlines are ready to fly.  It’s one thing to have a cruise ship ready to go, but most people fly to their embarkation point, so they will need restored air service before we can get cruising again.
• Foreign Governments’ action.  Regardless of what restrictions are placed or lifted inside the United States, foreign authorities will decide for themselves when to reopen their own borders.

It’s also safe to say that cruising will be different when things do start up again. 

That is NOT to say the cruise lines will be back to business-as-usual after all this has receded. 

The overwhelming majority of our clients still believe that cruising is a safe method of travel and are not particularly influenced by the fear-mongering that has been undertaken by some media outlets. 

The most reliable source of information about what has actually happened on cruise ships, the sanitization and inspection regimes, and the standards the cruise lines are required to meet is the CDC’s website.  It also provides the context that the media does not.

So what can you expect on your next cruise?  Here are a few ideas of how it might be a bit different than the last cruise you took (to be clear, this is just an educated guess):

• More rigorous embarkation requirements:  At the very least, they will be taking your temperature before you board.  Some people may require a physician’s note to travel.
• Scheduled embarkation time:  As a result of the extra screening to get on a ship, embarkation will take longer, and may require staggering guests’ appearance at the dock.
• Enhanced sanitation on turn-over days:  In reality, the sanitization procedures on board cruise ships are already significantly more rigorous than hotels, planes, and other tourist venues.  These methods will become even more stringent.  For this reason, cruise lines may increase the time between disembarkation of guests at the end of a cruise, and embarkation of the next set of guests.
• More frequent sanitization of high traffic areas:  Look for crew to be wiping down elevator buttons, hand-railings etc. every hour, or even more often.
• Self-serve buffets will be gone:  The food will continue to be a highlight of cruising, but the self-service options will be greatly reduced or eliminated.
• Shore excursions will be re-imagined:  You’ll still be able to get out and explore the ports of call, but you may do so in smaller groups in order to maintain some social distancing.

Finally, people have been asking what the impact of the pandemic, and these potential new measures, may have on the price of a cruise. 

On one hand, the cruise lines will incur greater costs, and therefore may look to raise prices.  Conversely, if the demand for cruising falls, there is a good argument the cruise lines could drop prices to entice more people on to their ships.

I think both these perspectives are simplistic, so I don’t really know how it will play out. 

The vast majority of cruises that we book are on small ships and river ships, and because many of the problems with cruising are much more applicable to the megaships, we’re not personally seeing a huge drop in demand. 

Many of our cruise line partners tell us that their bookings for the first half of 2021 are much higher this far ahead than they’ve seen in previous years.  This makes sense, with many people pushing their cruises one year into the future. 

The other demand element here is that of the 30 million people who went on cruises last year, the majority will eventually cruise again.  However, I suspect the new-to-cruise guests will be less forthcoming. In other words, most non-cruisers won’t go on a cruise no matter how cheap it gets.

Perhaps the cruise lines will simply run ships less-than-full for the next year or two.  That would help with social distancing on a ship with several thousand people.

We still believe that river and small-ship ocean cruising is a great vacation choice.  Once the logistics are ironed out for getting people to these ships, and getting underway again, the cruise experience will be a positive one, as always. 

We can’t wait to get going on our next trip.

Have something to say about this?

Join the conversation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PamperedCruiser/posts/2669757746640056

Whenever you’re ready to plan your next trip, I’m here to help.  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

In the past few weeks, we’ve been talking about the things we’re doing personally as we work our way through the pandemic. 

This has been quite deliberate, because we’ve cringed at some companies (not just in travel), that have not changed their tone, and come across as a little bit tone deaf and insensitive to the bigger issues we are facing right now.

It is also consistent with our desire to present ourselves as real people, and not simply push out recycled corporate messages from the cruise companies.

Two weeks ago, we invited you (whenever you’re ready) to start dreaming about your next trip, as a way of getting through the current uncertainty and isolation. 

We encouraged you to look forward and dream about the places you want to go when we’re eventually able to travel again. 

I’ve noticed that all the cruise lines are heavily promoting this message as well – they are enticing us with photos and stories of interesting and exotic destinations.

Something about this messaging has been ‘niggling’ at me, and I’ve only recently figured out what has been bothering me.

I realized that the destination itself matters far less than who you travel with.  

In other words, it’s much less about “WHERE” and much more about “WHO”.

If this seems like a blinding flash of the obvious to you, then you are correct, and I’m not sure why it took me this long to articulate it this way.

On Easter weekend, we connected via video chat for pre-dinner cocktails with extended family.  Under normal circumstances we would have all congregated at one of our homes for one of those big, ridiculous, family dinners.  That wasn’t possible this year, so we did our best to simulate the experience.

The actual video conferencing aspect was a bit of disaster – not unlike the Saturday Night Live sketch that aired the night before.  But it was still a necessary attempt to connect with people who are important to us, and perhaps that was the catalyst that got me to thinking:  “When is the last time we travelled with some or all of these people”?

Like most late-middle-aged people, we have adult children and we’re also dealing with aging-parent issues.  It occurred to me this weekend, that those same demographics that make it difficult for us to put together a extended family vacation, also make it much more urgent to do so.

As we’ve all discovered, you never know when opportunities are going to be taken away from us, so if we don’t plan to do something soon, then when will we actually get around to going?

It’s not just extended family.  Like many of you, we have life-long friends that are very important to us, and they feel like family.  We need to make an effort with them too. 

Of course, now that I figured out the first (and most important variable) – “who”, the next most logical question is certainly “where?”.

I am looking to do something in the next six to twelve months, and we really have no idea when parts of the world will begin to reopen, or when our airlines will resume regular flight schedules. 

So I’ve come up with a shortlist for the consideration of those on my “who-list”:

• Mississippi River:  As a former resident of Philadelphia, I am inclined to regard that city as the epicenter of American history, but there’s a reasonable argument that post War of Independence, the Mississippi River tracks a huge chunk of the history of this country.  I can hardly wait to learn more.
• Columbia River:  We go to Alaska just about every year, but the Alaska cruise run has been significantly reduced for 2020, and the scenery of the Columbia/Snake Rivers in Washington and Oregon rivals that of Alaska.  The outdoor people on my “who-list” will be all over this one. 
• Canada/New England Cruises:  The Canadian border is closed until July 1, but the St. Lawrence Seaway cruises usually occur in September/October, so that gives a comfortable margin of error for things to return to “normal”.  I particularly want to visit Newfoundland (the only Canadian Province I haven’t visited), and the French colony of St. Pierre & Miquelon (yep – few of us are aware that France still has a colony in North America.  I can spend those extra Euros rattling around in my drawer).

I also have two international destinations on my short list, and both have shown exceptionally low infection rates of covid-19.  We’ll have to wait to see if they’ll be accepting flights from the US before making any decisions, but I am optimistic to make either of the following trips either late this year, or early in 2021:

• Tahiti & French Polynesia:  I really have a strong desire to share the over-water bungalow experience, and the natural beauty of this part of the world with my “who-list”.  It is only two hours further by plane than Hawaii.
• Australia/New Zealand:  Bob and I have each lived in Australia, and New Zealand remains one of my favorite places on the planet.  Both countries are easy to travel, safe, and rich with natural beauty.  The people have lovely accents as well… perfect for my “who-list”.

Which people are on your “who-list”, and where could you conceivably travel together this year?  If this situation has taught us anything, it is to make plans with the people who are important to us, and cherish every moment of our time together.

Have something to say about this?

Join the conversation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PamperedCruiser/posts/2663399850609179

Whenever you’re ready to plan a trip with your loved ones, I’m here to help.  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

Humans are creatures of habit, and those habits have had to change quickly in the past month. 

March of 2020 will be always remembered as the month where all of us started out with our regular routines.  At some point during that month, our routines were interrupted.

Initially it felt more like how Thanksgiving or Christmas changes your routines (like jammies in the daytime, and wine at lunchtime).

At our house, we are now in our fourth week of lockdown (we got started early), and it now definitely feels like a new set of routines.

For us, it’s been a period of discovery.  Currently we are in the Pacific Northwest – a beautiful part of the world, but one in which we have not experienced a March day since 2007.  We normally live in Mexico at this time of year, and we are missing the warmer weather and latin music, but that has forced us to rediscover the early spring at this higher latitude. 

During the first dizzying round of travel rebooking a few weeks ago, Bob and I decided early that we had to prioritize our personal wellness before we could be of use to any of our clients.  For us, this has a few key elements:

• Exercise Daily (no matter how busy it gets).
• Eat ell – we’ve rediscovered how much satisfaction we get from cooking, and how easy it is to eat healthy when we eat at home
• Media Blackout – we turned off broadcast and print media about a month ago.  Sorry folks – don’t care what outlets are your favorite – you are being bombarded with sensationalized information that is not conducive to good mental health.  We go online and read the daily update from the Chief Medical Officer in our jurisdiction who gives us the relevant facts, and her recommendations.  I’m not particularly interested in what anybody else has to say about the situation.  We both agree we feel substantially better after making this decision.
• Dreaming – We all know this is going to end, and we want things to look forward to.  We were supposed to be in New Orleans this week for the gala reception launching Viking’s Mississippi River product.  That event was cancelled, but we’ve decided to book a trip The Big Easy in fall.  We’re still hopeful we can attend a special cruise industry meeting for three days at the end of May in San Francisco.  If that gets taken away, we will book something in its place for later in the summer.  We’ve also decided we need to make Tahiti a priority – we’ve been talking forever about heading down there to experience the over-water bungalows, and a small ship cruise.  We’ll get that scheduled before the end of this year. 

This whole situation has underscored some incredibly valuable life-lessons for us:

FIRST – it really is very important to do the things you want to do NOW.  For us travel has always been a priority (it’s how we ended up in this business).  This has affirmed the value we get from travel, and made us want to do more.

SECOND – the satisfaction we get from the little things has been greatly heightened.  A good cup of coffee with the sun on my face in the morning; our favorite musicians who we now listen to via FaceBook Live; a great meal with good company; the many incredible people in our lives, who we don’t get to see in person right now, but still remain connected. 

This crisis will pass, and we will have the opportunity to resume our old routines.  The challenge we’ve set for ourselves is to maintain the more positive aspects of these new temporary routines we’ve learned in the past few weeks, and when we get back to “normal”, that we retain what we’ve learned through all of this, and live better going forward.

Whenever you’re ready to start planning your next trip, we’re here for you. 

Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley

Last week we offered a little preview into our world as travel agents, in light of the cruise industry having ground to a halt the week before.

It sure feels like more than a week ago, doesn’t it?

We’re still very busy helping clients adjust their plans, but the pace has become manageable to the point where we can begin to form some new routines until the world returns to normal.

And it will return to normal – it will just take longer than most of us would like.

We’ve been struggling with how to best communicate with you.  We obviously don’t think this is the appropriate time to be sending out “sales” messages, but we don’t want to be silent either.

Earlier today, we were privileged to attend a (virtual) meeting with the top Executives from ten major Ocean Cruise Lines, and were reminded of few important things about this industry.

Perhaps most notably, the meeting reinforced how instructional the tag line for our business The Pampered Cruiser is at this time.  Remember, our tag line is “Dream.Travel.Share”.

During our meeting, we were reminded that travel has a ‘triple bottom line’.  When you plan a trip, there are three payoffs.  Travel brings joy:

• when you dream about it
• when you actually experience it, and
• when you remember it

When we travel, the one-or-two-week experience itself is really only one-third (or less) of the total value we get from the trip. 

Before we go away, we have the anticipation, planning and excitement of the trip (DREAM).  Interestingly, studies show that this is where we actually get the most value out of our trip.

When we return, we come back with memories and stories that last us a lifetime (SHARE). 

We aren’t really able to TRAVEL right now, but we can still DREAM and SHARE.

Some of us aren’t ready to DREAM yet.  The reality of what is happening in the world is still too raw. 

Many others are already actively dreaming about (and planning) the trips they want to take when this is over.  Almost all our clients who had their cruise cancelled in April have already re-booked.

This crisis, like all others, will eventually pass, and each of us has to decide when we’re ready to DREAM again.

Whenever you’re ready, we’re here for you. 

We can also SHARE while we wait this thing out. 

Bob and I are working furiously right now to re-edit some of our video clips from our previous river cruises, and will have something to SHARE shortly.

Here’s a hint:  We’re going to take a Viking River Cruise on the Danube, and we’ll invite all of you along.  We’ll post this on Facebook, so if you’re not connected with us already, here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/PamperedCruiser

If you’ve already done this cruise, we’d love you to weigh in with Facebook comments about your own experiences on this trip.  If this trip is on your bucket list, this is a great chance to get a preview.  If you were going to do this trip in the next few weeks, and had that option taken away from you – well, it won’t be as good as if you actually got to go, but perhaps this will be a bit of fun until you get to do it yourself.

We’ll send out a note once we’re ready to begin “broadcasting” on Facebook.  We’ll visit a different port every day, and discuss our experience there.

If you want to SHARE a different itinerary, we’ve documented a number of our other cruises on our YouTube Channel.  Here’s the link:   www.YouTube.com/ThePamperedCruiser

For Bob and me, this process has been quite cathartic.  Rather than being exclusively focused on cancelling and rebooking clients’ cruise plans, we are looking forward to being able to DREAM along with them again.

In the next few weeks as we walk this tightrope between being sensitive to the very real crisis happening in the world, and DREAMING for when it’s over, please excuse us if we err too much on one side or the other. 

Warm regards,

Sue Bradley

It’s been a wild ride these past two weeks for anyone involved in the travel industry.

When this situation first started to unfold, we were honestly preparing ourselves for the worst – an overwhelming number of phone calls and emails from panicked clients needing instant answers about their travel plans.

To be sure, it has been very busy, and we expect it to be so for a while yet.  However the tone of people’s communication with us has been far from panicked.  The overwhelming majority of our clients have not only been extremely patient, but have also expressed their genuine concern for how we’re coping through this madness.

You cannot possibly imagine how meaningful this is for us.  Many times, a simple message of encouragement has ‘made’ our day.

In contrast, many of our less fortunate travel agent colleagues have described scenarios even worse than our initial fears.  It shows that we have a very special group of clients.

Another pleasant surprise is that amongst our clients, over 90% who were scheduled to travel in March and April (who ended up having their plans cancelled by the cruise line), are choosing to simply postpone their trip.  It seems our people have an underlying calm about the whole situation and understand that this craziness will pass. 

An equally high number of clients travelling in May and June are very much in “wait and see” mode.  They want to take their trips – and they are ready to see what happens in the next few weeks before making any decisions.  They are not in denial, or being naïve, they are just keeping things in perspective.

It certainly helps that the cruise lines are making it easy for guests to ‘wait and see’.  They’ve provided relaxed cancellation policies, and also rewarded guests who hang in there.  Guests are being treated more than fairly.

We respect such a rational approach by clients to a situation that is necessarily highly emotive. 

I’m not sure what “magic lever” we pulled to end up surrounded by this extraordinary group of people, but we sure feel lucky.

We got a little preview of this special community when we hosted a cruise on Seabourn in Alaska last summer, and several of our clients were on board.  We don’t often get a chance to meet our clients in person, so you can imagine how delighted we were when it turned out that OUR CLIENTS were the ones we enjoyed spending time with the most on that trip!

For many of us, the decision to cruise is a leisure choice, one we are privileged to make.  For many cruise line employees that we interface with on the ship: your room steward, the waiter, the bartender or the tour guide – these circumstances are far more consequential.  Almost all of these people, who do such a good job of taking care of us, come from emerging economies and they rely on their salaries, and the tips we provide them, to send money back home to their families. The tourism industry is far from perfect, but it does redistribute wealth from the rich countries like ours to others that are developing.

So, thank you for being part of this special community of travellers.  Bob and I want you to know that we genuinely appreciate you and never take you for granted. 

It is said that people’s true nature is exposed in times of crisis.  This situation certainly qualifies as a crisis, and the response we have seen from all of you is a glowing testament to the quality of this community.

Planning a Cruise?  I’d love to help!  Click here to get in touch today.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sue Bradley