Paul and I have been in isolation due to catching COVID-19 since 5
February, and just to sink the boot in, in those few days we have been
notified of two cruise cancellations - our 15th and 16th cruise cancellations since 2020.
There is still no real sign of the government(s) opening up the country for cruising. The Australian Government is the main blocker here - they still have a complete ban on cruise ships entering the country. But, they want to make sure that the State governments take the blame if anything goes wrong, so they're insisting that the State governments have to agree to lifting the cruise ship ban and trying to make it sound like it's all a State government responsibility. And the State governments of course are equally blame averse and are insisting that they can't make any decisions until the Australian Government ban is lifted - which to be fair, they can't. It's ridiculous to suggest that any State Government of any political leaning could announce that cruise ships are welcome and start making firm plans around this when cruise ships are in fact completely banned from the country.
The first cancellation was for a cruise in June, from Sydney to Cairns and back, on the Carnival Splendor. Carnival has had one ship based here full-time for 5 or 6 years now, and have usually bought another one out for the summer each year. But, it seems they have given up on Australia - one of their ships will now not return until October 2023, and although the other one will supposedly return in September 2022, I don't really think it's that likely.
And the second one was a NZ cruise in October. This one is with Princess who is the cruise line we most often sail with. Since COVID started, when they have cancelled a cruise they've most commonly offered you a replacement 12 months in the future (or a refund or Future Cruise Credit of course). This time though, the replacement is only 20 days after the original cruise, so maybe they really do think that the Australian and NZ governments will have opened their borders to tourists and to cruise ships by then.
But - if anyone feels like joining us on a cruise, all the cruises listed above are with Princess, except for the 12 July 2022 cruise to Airlie Beach, and Adam's eclipse cruise in April 2023 - they are both with P&O Australia.
