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RON & MARY’S
EDITOR’SNOTE

ROUGH SEAS

Mary and I have had many chats lately about our up- what shipboard experience will await us when/if we
coming booked cruises. We wonder if they will be can- board then. To us, the comradery of gathering with fel-
celled as the pandemic persists. We speculate about low cruisers is as important as enjoying great food,
radical changes in the cruise experience as cruise lines drink and exciting ports and shore excursions. Imagine
focus on keeping passengers Covid-19 free. And we that experience wearing a face mask (and we always
worry that some favorite cruise companies might not wear one in public now) and maintaining social distanc-
weather the economic challenges they’re facing. ing. How will elevators, dining rooms, lounges, bars and
Like many travelers we have not received promised theaters operate? How will crew practices change to
refunds and other compensation. We wait...and insure their safety and health?
call...and wait some more. In some cases more than All are thorny issues for cruise lines, their customers
three months have passed with no sign of the funds, in and employees. Perhaps the only way the ships can re-
our case, from a cruise company and airline. We know assure passengers and the public is robust testing of all
others have faced the same challenges all across the boarding after every trip ashore until a vaccine is avail-
travel industry. And many, like us, have learned our able to all. When that happens, proof of vaccination will
travel insurance is worthless in a pandemic. be as necessary for boarding as a passport. No excep-
Cruise lines have been hit hard, maybe the hardest, tions.
since the pandemic forced Recently Robert R. Redfield, the
them from the seas. We director of the C.D.C., blamed
surely understand they are cruise ships for widespread trans-
struggling with cash flow mission of the virus as he banned
as their income has dried cruises through the month of Sep-
up. We sympathize with tember. The C.D.C mandated that
customer service reps who before cruise ships can sail in or
face a public increasingly out of American waters, cruise
vexed with refund delays. lines must come up with cohesive
Add in America’s poor plans for prevention and mitiga-
response to the pandemic tion of the illness.
that has made U.S. citizens unwelcome around the Cruise lines know these steps are essential if they
world, and it’s understandable why we are reluctant to are to survive. Most are working with health and travel
book and/or pay for future cruises. Sure you can cancel experts to find answers that satisfy authorities, protect
up until the last minute without penalty, but when you passengers and crews, and provide the levels of service
do that, you likely won’t see those funds for months...if and satisfaction their clients expect.
ever. The same goes for air fares, lodging, etc. We fervently wish them well because we can’t wait
The result is a vicious circle of woe for an already to sail again. But in the meantime, we hope they’ll send
battered industry. our money back soon.
We do have a cruise on the books for May 2021. But Ron & Mary James
Publishers & Editors

6 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020