Just Cruises Plus

Cruising has been shut down for over a year and a half and cruises are finally underway. If you’re ready to cruise but are reluctant to fly, here are some suggestions for 2022 cruises out of Cape Liberty. We hand-picked the following cruises because they have great itineraries as well as special discounts.

Get Warm During the Winter Cruises

January 9th – Anthem of the Seas – 11 nights –  San Juan, St Martin, St Kitts, Barbados, Antigua

January 20th – Anthem of the Seas – 11 nights – San Juan, St Martin, Antigua, St Lucia, St Kitts

January 31st –  Anthem of the Seas – 11 nights – San Juan, St Martin, Antigua, St Lucia, St Kitts

Spring Cruises 

May 4th – Summit – 9 nights – Newport, Charleston, Bermuda

May 13th – Summit – 10 nights – Newport, Charleston, Bermuda (extra night in Bermuda)

May 23rd – Summit – 10 nights – Newport, Bermuda (2 nights), Charleston (overnight)

June 2nd – Summit – 10 nights – Charleston, Bermuda

June 12th – Summit – 7 nights Bermuda

Summer Cruises (Think Cool Breezes)

June 24th – Oasis of the Seas – 7 nights – Port Canaveral, Nassau, Coco Cay (Oasis is almost twice as wide as Summit and Anthem)

July 17th – Summit – 7 night Bermuda

September 1st – Adventure of the Seas – 9 nights – Boston, Portland, Bar Harbor, St Johns (Newfoundland), and Halifax, Nova Scotia

Requires flying but  worth the hassle

July 17th – Solstice -7 night Alaska from Seattle

August 7th – Summit – 12 nights from Cape Liberty to Reykjavik, Iceland with stops in Halifax, St Johns, Newfoundland, Qaqatog, Greenland, Akereyri, Icland, Isafjordur, Iceland (Exotic itinerary)

August 12th – Millennium – 7 nights from Seward to Vancouver (Glacier Route)

October 27th Adventure of the Seas – 11 nights from Cape Liberty to Galveston, Texas – Labadee, Falmouth, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cartagena, Columbia, Colon, Panama, Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, Roatan, Honduras, Cozumel

We’re sure we can get you a discounted price on these cruises, however some of the cruises have very limited availability so you should not wait. Call Just Cruises Plus at 215-364-3310 or respond to this email with your preferred accomodations – Suite, Balcony (a must for Alaska), oceanview or interior.

A consumer survey conducted over the Memorial Day weekend found that more than 80% of likely cruisers want to be on a ship where everyone (crew and passengers) is vaccinated.

Current Vaccination Requirements for Cruises in 2021 (these requirements and additional costs for testing do not apply to children under 12 years)

Alaska Cruises (All Cruise Lines) – All passengers must be vaccinated. Ships will not have to make a stop in Canada to meet the “Jones Act” requirement that states that foreign flagged ships (most cruise ships) must make a stop at a foreign port when carrying passengers between US Ports.  Senator Mike Lee has introduced legislation to get rid of the Jones Act permanently (good riddance).

Hawaii Cruises – All passengers must be vaccinated.

New York, Bayonne and Baltimore Departures  – All passengers must be vaccinated.

Florida and Texas Departures – Have laws that allow unvaccinated people to sail.  Most cruise lines departing from Florida and Texas ports are insisting that unvaccinated passengers submit to testing to be paid for by the passenger.  They will sit in a separated section of the dining room and the theater. Furthermore, they will not be able to enter the casino and they won’t be able get off the ship in ports that require vaccinations.

The following sailing start dates are subject to change:

Starting dates for Alaska cruises

From Seattle (Alaska Cruises) July 23, 2021 – Celebrity Millennium kicks off the season with ships from Holland America, Princess, Silversea, Carnival following

Starting dates for cruises from New York City and Cape Liberty, NJ

Sept 5th 2021 – Oasis of the Seas (Royal Caribbean Cruise Line)

September 26th 2021 – Norwegian Breakaway (Norwegian Cruise Line)

November 7th 2021- Anthem of the Seas (Royal Caribbean Cruise Line)

November 26th 2021 – Queen Elizabeth 2 (Cunard)

May 4th 2022 – Celebrity Summit (Celebrity Cruises)

Starting dates for cruises from Baltimore 

September 4th-  Enchantment of the Seas (Royal Caribbean Cruise Line)

November 21st – Carnival Legend (Carnival Cruises)

After being homebound for more than a year, most of us can’t wait to travel again. Domestic travel is not a problem but cruises have been virtually non-existent. Now that is about to change for the better.

Cruiselines have been given a plan by the CDC that will lead to the safe opening of US ports to cruise ships. The plan calls for either of the following:

1. A ship may sail if 98% of crew and 95% of passengers are vaccinated OR
2. The cruiseline must successfully complete test cruises monitored by the CDC

Celebrity Cruises is one cruiseline electing to go with the first option. Celebrity will require all passengers to be vaccinated on the Celebrity Edge scheduled to cruise from Ft Lauderdale on June 5th. All subsequent cruises will require vaccinations at least through the Alaska season and possibly beyond.

Royal Caribbean is an example of a cruisline that will follow the 2nd option – they will have a test cruise on the Freedom of the Seas on June 20^th.  If that cruise meets CDC requirements, Royal Caribbean ships will be able to sail without a vaccination requirement. We expect Carnival Cruise Line to follow this path.

If you’re anxious to cruise in 2021, you’re in luck.  Schedules are just opening up so there are tons of availability.  This is not true in 2022.  Many dates are totally booked up, particularly in the summer, so you must call now if you want to cruise in the summer of 2022.

– Photo credit to The Daily Beast

The Max8 has been cleared by the FAA to resume flying following two crashes that killed 346 people. Is the Max 8 a safe airplane and would I fly on one?

Boeing was a storied aeronautics company which built the most advanced, safest planes in the world, until the “bean-counters” took control of the company from the engineers. Great engineering was sacrificed for the bottom line. The result was the Max 8, an obsolete plane that needs computer software to fly safely. As 346 people found out, the software did not always work. This plane was the result of the “bean-counters’” quick fix which enabled Boeing to compete with Airbus on the cheap.

Concluding an 18-month probe in September of this year, the final House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s 245-page report found that “Boeing failed in its design and development of the MAX, and the FAA failed in its oversight of Boeing and its certification of the aircraft.”

I will not fly on a Max 8 because I believe that, although the software fix has been extensively tested and probably works very well, the “bean-counters” are still in charge and the company remains ethically challenged and I prefer to give my business to ethical companies.

Despite great news from pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, it will be many months before a significant portion of the population is vaccinated.  Meanwhile, masks are still the best defense against Covid-19.

If you intend to cruise in the next 18 months, we urge you to book your cruise before November 30^th.  If you book a cruise before  November 30^th, most of the major cruise lines are allowing you to cancel that booking at the last minute and receive full cruise credits.  This is in addition to the current policies in place.  Each cruise line has slightly different rules so you should call us so we can go over the rules with you.

Booking by November 30^th allows you to take advantage of these “cancel for any reason” options.

In a recent article, USA Today suggested that many travel agencies use their clients’ deposit money to fund the final payments of other clients in a ponzi-like scheme.  In another article, it was noted that some travel agencies use client deposit money to fund operations.  Both of these uses of client money are highly unethical.

How Are Your Payments Handled by Just Cruise Plus?

Credit Card Payments: When you give Just Cruises Plus your credit card information, we post your payment directly to your travel supplier (eg., Royal Caribbean, Globus, etc).   It is the travel supplier’s name you will see on your credit card statement.

Payments by Check:  When you pay by check, Just Cruises Plus deposits your check to our account and, once your check clears, we immediately transfer the same payment to your travel supplier.

Payments by Cash:  When you pay by cash, Just Cruises Plus deposits the cash to our account and immediately transfers the same payment to your travel supplier.

Just Cruises Plus will get you the identical or better price than you would get from a travel supplier and you get the additional benefit of our great service that we have been giving for the past 31 years.

— Click here to view the full report —

The recommendations of the Healthy Sail Panel, sponsored by Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, are now available.  Here is a status update and summary of findings:

Healthy Return to Sailing – Status Update and Summary of Findings

The recommendations of the Healthy Sail Panel have been submitted to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in response to a request for public comment on the CDC’s current No Sail Order.  The Healthy Sail Panel, formed in June, consists of globally recognized experts experienced in various disciplines including public health, infectious diseases, biosecurity and marine operations.  The Panel has spent the last several months studying how to best protect the health and safety of guests and crew.

They’ve made 74 recommendations across the following five core focus areas that every cruise operator should address to reduce the risk of infection and spread of COVID-19* on cruise ships:

– Testing, Screening and Exposure Reduction

– Sanitation and Ventilation

– Response, Contingency Planning and Execution

– Destination and Excursion Planning

– Mitigating Risks for Crew Members

Among the recommendations are key strategies such as:

– Taking aggressive measures to prevent COVID-19 from entering a ship through robust education, screening and testing of both crew and guests prior to embarkation

– Reducing transmission via air management strategies and sanitation practices

– Implementing detailed plans for addressing positive infection onboard, including contingencies for onboard treatment, isolation and evacuation

– Closely controlling shore excursions

– Enhanced protection for crew member

It will take several weeks for the CDC to review the recommendations of the Healthy Sail Panel and to respond with feedback.

*Note:  The report references SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). This is the virus that causes the disease COVID-19.

Click here to view the full report

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Co-chair of the Healthy Sail Panel

When will it be safe to cruise?  To answer this question, the Royal Caribbean Group (Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Azamara and Silversea) and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (Norwegian Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas and Oceania) have jointly formed a panel of public health, infectious disease, biosecurity, hospitality and maritime experts.  The panel is co-chaired by Dr. Scott Gottlieb (former FDA Commissioner) and Mike Leavitt (former Secretary of Health and Human Services).  You’ve probably seen Dr. Gottlieb interviewed on TV regarding Covid 19.  The group is called “Healthy Sail Panel”.

The job of the panel is to come up with procedures, guidelines and recommendations for the cruise lines to use to keep their passengers and crew as safe as possible.  The group is expected to come up with recommendations by August 30^th.  We’ll let you know as soon as they make their report.

Royal Caribbean has come up with a new and novel method to meet Safety at Sea requirements while keeping passengers safe from crowds.  The following (from their website) describes this innovative procedure.

“Royal Caribbean Group is replacing one of the least-loved but most important parts of a cruise vacation — the safety drill — with Muster 2.0™, an entirely new approach to delivering safety information to guests. The innovative program, the first of its kind, reimagines a process originally designed for large groups of people into a faster, more personal approach that encourages higher levels of safety.

With Muster 2.0, the key elements of the safety drill — including reviewing what to expect and where to go in case of an emergency, and instructions on how to properly use a life jacket — will be accessible to guests on an individual basis instead of a group approach that has been followed historically. New technology, eMuster^TM, will be used to help provide the information to guests via their mobile devices and interactive stateroom TVs. Travelers will be able to review the information at their own time prior to setting sail, eliminating the need for the traditional large group assemblies. The new approach also enables everyone on board to maintain better spacing as guests move about the ship, and it allows guests to enjoy more of their vacation with no interruption.

After reviewing safety information individually, guests will complete the drill by visiting their assigned assembly station, where a crew member will verify that all steps have been completed and answer questions. Each of the steps will need to be completed prior to the ship’s departure, as required by international maritime law.”

Of course, these procedures will be available to all companies that fall under the Royal Caribbean Brand:  Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises and Silversea.

Thank you, Royal Caribbean!

American, United and Spirit — These are the airlines that will be selling middle seats on their aircraft. The math is simple.  The fewer people you have within 6 feet, the better is your chance of avoiding Covid 19.  An airplane is an inherently dangerous environment insofar as Covid 19 is concerned.  If the guy across the aisle has the virus, you are at risk.  The fewer people on a plane with you, the lower will be the risk but the risk will never be zero unless you are the only passenger on the plane.

Delta, Jet Blue and Southwest will limit the number of seats that they sell on any flight.  If you have to fly, these airlines offer the best chance of avoiding Covid illness.

Throughout this pandemic, we have found Delta to be the best in terms of fairness and responsiveness to customers and they’ve also done a good job of keeping travel agents up-to-date with changes to flights and policies.