SURVEY RESULTS: Would You River Cruise In August? | Travel Research Online

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SURVEY RESULTS: Would You River Cruise In August?

 

Carnival Cruise Line announced that it will phase in service beginning in August. The news had a mixed response among our readers. Some are glad that they might be able to sail again and with low lead-in rates, we have heard from people excited for Carnival’s return to the seas. Others aren’t so sure. They say that August is simply too soon to return to cruising. Instead of relying on the feedback of a random sampling of individuals, we decided to ask you all if you would take a cruise in August.

 

As you can see in the chart at the top of this page, 84 percent of people said that they would not be willing to take a cruise in August. What may be surprising, though, is that 16 percent of people said that they would take a cruise in August. Keep in mind, we didn’t ask specifically about Carnival cruises, so the responses may be skewed with people thinking about cruising on small ships or river cruise vessels. Regardless, this is a bit of a contrast to our last set of survey answers, where only 10 percent of our readers said they would cruise in Summer 2020. See results below.

 

 

The good news is that people are eager to cruise again. Trust us, we are, too. Besides asking travelers if they would cruise in August, we asked them why or why not. Below we will highlight some of the responses that lead our readers to their yes or no answer.

For those who answered ‘yes’:

“It’s very hard to explain, but I will not live my life in a bubble. I have a healthy immune system and no health issues. I will comply with government regs. If they dictate mandatory mask requirements etc., but if my already booked cruise isn’t canceled, I fully intend to be on it.”

“I feel completely safe on the rivers and ships of Europe and elsewhere in the world.”

“We’re already booked for mid-August. We feel that with masks, we should be safe enough.”

“My cruise in May was cancelled. I rebooked for Sept and hope they cruise! I miss traveling, meeting interesting people and seeing sights I’ve always read about.”

For those who answered ‘no’:

“Are you crazy? This will not be over until everyone has had it or a vaccine. Period.”

“Until a drug is available to prevent the Coronavirus I won’t be traveling anywhere.”

“I have a riverboat cruise down the Danube scheduled August 1. We have decided to cancel. I am over 65 and have had prior illness. Too dangerous to risk.”

“Way too soon. There will be insufficient testing, no certain therapeutics and certainly no vaccine by this summer. We are booked for a Viking European cruise in April of 2021, and even this depends heavily on how the virus is being contained and understood. I prefer to keep my life secure for lots of cruises once we have this thing under control.”

“Even if cruise ships have excellent precautions there are 2 reasons. 1. I don’t want to be part of the first groups that figure out if the system works. 2. Getting to the port of embarkation involves travel via plane and I think it’s going to take many months to figure out how to get through the airport process, boarding, seating, etc.”

Regardless of whether you believe August is too soon or not, one thing is for certain: Now is a good time to begin planning your next cruise. Some cruise companies are already banner booking days, with inventory shrinking. Grab space before the masses do. And with generous cancellation programs in place, you can book with confidence that should things not go as you would hope, you are off the hook for losing your investment. We’re not lawyers, and we don’t make policy, so please check with your cruise advisor for specifics.

 

This article was originally published on River Cruise Advisor.

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