I should be getting ready to go on a cruise in a couple weeks.
But I’m not.
We canceled it.
It was the right decision for my travel buddy and me.
Back in November, it appeared all systems were go for a cruise in late February, so it seemed like a good idea to make final payment. We had such a sweet deal with an aft-facing balcony, all the perks, and a bunch of onboard credit.
Enter Omicron.
As the cruise got closer, both my travel buddy and I were getting nervous about going even though we are both vaccinated and boosted.
With the virus all around, would it be difficult to achieve the required negative COVID test to board the ship? What about testing while onboard? Would we be able to get off the ship in ports? Would we be nervous about everything we were doing on the ship? Would we be quarantined in a windowless inside cabin if we tested positive while onboard?
So many questions.
The added stress was taking away any excitement we had about the cruise and planning for it.
Separately, both of us were feeling the same way, and it was a such a relief when we talked about it. It was a sad but easy decision to cancel the trip.
Because of Celebrity’s policies, we were able to get our taxes and fees back to our credit card and have the full value of the fare to use to pay for a future cruise.
There are limitations about when we need to use the credit, but we’re both sure we will find something.
The best part is the credits are not tied together in any way. Her credit is her credit and mine is mine. We can use them however we want, which is nice.
We were nervous that because we were sharing a cabin, Celebrity would see us as a couple and require us to use the credits at the same time in the same way. Even though it is highly likely we will sail together somewhere, it is nice to know we don’t have to if something comes up that interests one of us but not the other.
Also, we were very happy we used a travel agent to book all of this for us in the first place. Little did we know when we booked the trip back in 2020 for an original trip in 2021 that we would postpone it to 2022 and then eventually cancel it.
Knowing all we had to do was contact our travel agent and he would handle everything for us was great.
How have you handled these difficult go or no go decisions during the pandemic?