Planning During A Pandemic

Never would I have ever dreamed that this would be a topic I would be blogging about.

Ever.

But, here I am.

So many cancelled vacations- not just the five trips (yes 5- 2 business trips and 3 leisure trips) of my own but for so many travelers. It stings. I get it.

But no, I don’t know when it will be safe to travel again. Admittedly, my perspective is clouded. I live in New York with my family- two of whom are asthmatic and my 78 year old mother lives with us too. Fear is a real thing where we live.

But… I sell travel for a living. If no one travels, I cannot make a living. It’s truly that simple.

So, I plan. I reschedule trips.

The curves, here on Long Island, seem to be going the way we need to see it go in order to be able to try and assimilate to our new normal, what ever that will look like.

This is what we have decided for the 5 I had to juggle.

In March 2020, I was invited to spend 2 nights onboard Virgin Voyages’ brand new Scarlet Lady while she was in port in NYC. They actually cancelled as the ship was on route to NYC and have invited me to reschedule before the end of this year. We haven’t chosen a sailing just yet, but are hopeful we will sail.

Our MSC cruise has already been rescheduled now for August 2021. Instead of just Mike and I we are bringing our three children. MSC offered us a 100% future cruise credit as we cancelled before the cruise was officially cancelled. If we would have waited until it was officially cancelled, we would have gotten 125% credit or a full cash refund. Next August we will  sail to Puerto Rico, Saint Thomas, and the Dominican Republic aboard MSC Meraviglia- that FCC will come is super handy now that we are all 5 sailing. We booked 2 balcony staterooms at the Aurea level- which includes the easy drink package, massages, unlimited access to the spa’s thermal area, a private sundeck with pool that also has a nice bar in that area exclusive for Aurea guests with wait service, and a private restaurant.

In early May, I was invited to the Global Travel Marketplace West conference in Tucson, AZ. That has already been postponed until September 2020. I am so excited to be able to learn and meet with new suppliers, so much has changed over the past year and the timing is fantastic. I am also looking forward to spending a few nights in the Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa!

In July, we were going to take an AMAZING 7 night cruise out of Cape Liberty, NJ on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s Oasis of the Seas with quite a few friends for 7 nights down to the Bahamas. We only just cancelled this trip this past week and haven’t rescheduled yet- but we will. It is just timing right now- but we do have until the end of next year to use our Future Cruise Credit.

The hardest personal trip to reschedule, has to be our family’s trip to Walt Disney World later this May.  We planned the trip, correcting the mistakes we made the year prior, added a few more friends and experiences… only to have to reschedule as it looks as though the Walt Disney World Resort won’t be reopened for us to travel by then.

As with every Walt Disney World trip, a lot of hours went into planning this trip. It was going to be epic and we all knew it. So, we promised to try again next year- same time, same place. As a travel planner, that seems to be what a lot of travelers are doing- trying to replicate cancelled trips as long as their budget and time constraints allow.

So, this now left our Wanderlusting family without any scheduled family trips on the current year’s calendar. One of our daughters graduates high school in June… we needed to plan something, so we did. Most of us who were traveling together in May were traveling this year celebrating something- special birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, recovery from surgery, etc. So, most of our May group decided to plan a trip together for later in the summer to Walt Disney World, this time staying a week instead of just a long weekend. All signs right now, point that the Walt Disney World Resort should be open, in some capacity, by our travel dates. We have planned our dining reservations already and have some time before our Fast Pass window becomes available.

So, we keep planning- and if we have to reschedule, we will do that too.

We do know, once it is safe- we WILL travel again.

Will you?