Cruise ship vacations were in the spotlight at the beginning of the pandemic. Fourteen months later, they may be one of the modes of travel that vacationers most want to enjoy again.
Victoria Pena works in healthcare at an area eye surgery center, lives in Longmont and has been cruising for seven years. She’s gone to places including the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea and Alaska. “I work a lot and refuel by taking two week vacations,” she said. “I relied on them.”
As the pandemic set in, she was forced to cancel cruises to Asia and Hawaii and then commence on an intensive period of work. “Now, a lot of us are going on nothing. My boyfriend works at a pharmacy, he hasn’t had a break either,” Pena said.
Over the last year, Bill Beaver and his wife Teri — owners of Longmont-based cruise and vacation agency Expedia Cruise, Air, Land and Sea Vacations — were on the front lines of helping travelers.
“Some customers really wanted to try to get a trip planned at a certain time. We were careful to explain to them the risks and the likelihood of that happening and we would always be sure that everything they booked was refundable when possible,” Bill said.
Helping travelers understand what could happen took a lot of time. “People were eager to go, and we did tell some people, you should wait,” he said. “We followed the news really closely. We spent a lot of time educating people about where the travel industry was and what was going on.”
As summer 2021 begins, helping customers change plans may be mostly in the past. According to the Beavers, ships in the U.S. and Caribbean are expected to set sail as early as Mid-July or August, and are already departing from ports in Greece and Europe.
Pena has booked a river cruise in Germany for November and is planning on two other trips in 2022. “Both my boyfriend and I are vaccinated. Things are seeming safer for everyone and we’re ready to go.”
Like a lot of other aspects of post-pandemic life, things about cruising in the months ahead will look different. Entrances to dining areas will be staggered so that guests aren’t forced to be close together waiting in line or moving about the dining area. Tables will be spaced further apart, sanitation will be increased, and buffets will be operated so that food is behind glass and crew members plate meals for guests.
Many changes may bring long-term benefits. There is better ventilation and cruise lines are also looking to make better use of apps so guests can pre-order food or order it delivered to their cabin.
“They’re trying to make sure no one stands in line for anything,” Teri said.
Post-pandemic, the pair also expects that cruise prices may increase as availability of cruise cabins is more limited and older boats — in use before the pandemic — have been sold or decommissioned.
Bill explained, “There are fewer boats and fewer rooms. Originally the plan was to be at 50-60%room capacity, though with the success of vaccines, lines may be upping that number. That’s something the cruise lines are still working with the CDC on to come up with the right number of passengers.”
Meanwhile, the Beavers asked that customers stay patient when making plans. “People need to go with the flow as everything starts up again,” Bill said. “Things may not be quite like they were, but everyone has the passengers’ best interest in mind.”
