“Take a Seat”

~ Elizabeth

Last year I began planning for a cruise to Bermuda leaving from New York City on May 3, 2020. I saved for the trip and bought tickets, as did my close friend who lives 3000 miles away from me. We looked forward to it, each bought a new suitcase just for the adventure, and imagined where we might sit on the boat to enjoy reading. Our dreams resembled the photo on the right above.

We became aware of the growing pandemic in February, and began to wonder if we would still travel. As time went by, and especially as New York City was devastatingly hit by the virus (brought to our coast from Europe on thousands of arriving flights) we knew that it was very unlikely. Still the cruise line hedged their bets and our money by offering us, in March, a chance to swap our tickets for 125% cruise credit for next year. We held out, no longer interested in being on a large boat in a pandemic, awaiting a refund offer. A series of offers from the cruise line followed, each a little more enticing than the last, finally making a refund mandatory since the trip was cancelled. We filed for a refund, due within 30 days (45 days ago, by the way) and were relieved that we hadn’t been taken in by the offer.

Now I spend a lot of time in the chair on the left, very comfortable to be sure, but lacking sea air. From this chair I use Face Time to talk with my friend every other day. While we are grateful that we have homes, food, family and some money, we are disappointed about our trip. We talk about in 2021 or 2022 driving to Quebec.  But we will get to use our passports, renewed for the ill- fated Bermuda visit. And we will travel with our new suitcases!

45 thoughts on ““Take a Seat””

  1. “Great article and right to the point. I don’t know if this is in fact the best place to ask but do you folks have any thoughts on where to get some professional writers? Thank you ??”

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  2. This was sad, yet holding out was a wise choice. So things happen for a reason. You might have the trip of a lifetime in 2021 or 2022.

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  7. Aw sorry, timing is everything! I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful trip eventually! We squeezed in a cruise last fall, and a trip to Hawaii in the middle of February. Hmmm, what did we know and when did we know it!? 😉 I hope the cruise industry survives as I would love to go on another one someday!

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  8. Sorry to hear about your trip. At least you didn’t lose any money. In terms of holiday, and by complete contrast to your plans, we had booked a five-day break away to Pembrokeshire in Wales, in September. (A seven hour drive from here) We didn’t have to pay anything, as we were only staying in a dog-friendly Bed and Breakfast. But we have still cancelled that for now, as we doubt things will be safely back to normal by then. Becuase the tourist trade has collapsed, the owner has said he will nonetheless keep our booking open, in case we change our minds.
    Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. Another cruiser here who just got one in – over Christmas- and is wondering how long it will take the industry to recover. So many…..like yourselves…. had to wait to hear the fate of their booked cruises and so many ……like yourselves…..are still waiting for refunds.
    I’m sure your nice new luggage will get used…..just bide your time, put a deck chair out in the garden and enjoy the fresh air when the sun shines…..everything comes to those that wait you know😊
    I’m just waiting until our state borders are open and we get the green light to travel. It’s a four day drive to our winter hideaway- not sure I’m going to be able to cope wintering at home….in the cold!

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  12. You were wise to hold out. We have a family reunion scheduled in July, and we’re already getting cold feet.

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  13. For my 70th birthday (last December) my youngest son bought tickets for an evening with Neil Gaiman in Proctors, Schenectady for April 19th. He bought our flights in January, before he went off to New Zealand for three weeks to visit my younger daughter.
    Needless to say, that didn’t happen. He felt lucky to get back from NZ in February (via Singapore). Fortunately flights were insured, so he’s covered either way. He’ll need the money – he manages a pub in Westminster and is currently furloughed. (He seems more concerned about the barrels of beer he’s having to pour down the drain as they become out of date. There will be some tips rats in those sewers.)

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    2. I guess he can’t make hand sanitizer out of beer, unlike the distilleries of hard liquor here. I am sorry that you didn’t get to Schenectady. That is an easy drive from here and we could have met.

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      1. That would have been good. I met a blogger friend from New Zealand when I visited my daughter last year. It’s good to meet the faces on the profiles but I haven’t even met many from the UK. (I need to get out more!)

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    1. I was surprised by the people who traveled after knowing about the outbreaks. Some of them from here wanted to be flown out by the government after knowing they were flying into danger. I do have sympathy for those caught unaware as the disease spread.

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  16. We were supposed to go to Cape Town (South Africa) in April over my boys school holiday. Fortunately, we had not booked our flights as my husband is always a bit last minute. It is actually something that irritates organised me, but it worked in our favour in this case. We have also had to postpone our plans to go to London and Glastonbury this year in August. I don’t know when we will be able to travel to the UK again now as the world’s economy is so badly impacted by this virus. We have taken salary cuts so may not afford international travel again for a long while.

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