What happened to posting about cruising?

The latest on where we personally stand on cruise news: We used our FCC (full fare) from both the cancelled 15 day transatlantic and the deposit from the cancelled Canadian cruise tour from 2020 (both booked with Princess) to book a 16 day sailing in August 2021. And shockingly it still didn't cover the fare of this 16 day cruise! For ages, our sailing has shown as having our cabin category sold out which makes it difficult to price match. I'm guessing everyone with unexpected FCCs decided to splurge and book up the suites. Plus the longer cruises tend to have more passengers willing to splurge anyway. A couple weeks ago, it was noticed that Princess was listing all 2021 cruises over 7 days as "Not currently available for booking." 

This was their answer to the CDC's current stipulation that the cruises only sail for up to 7 days sailings which weeds out further destinations like transatlantic itineraries which normally take at least 14 days. Okay, sounds intelligent to prevent people from booking a long cruise you're not sure will be allowed to sail only to have to refund them weeks later. However, the latest claim is that Princess is waiting for further information from the CDC on certain points of their revised order and us with those cruises already booked should simply just be patient waiting to hear what's going to happen to our bookings. There's tons of possibilities from whether it's feasible to break up a long cruise into two back to back cruises to changing/omitting certain port options in your itinerary so it's only 7 days to cancelling your sailing altogether. However, since ours is so long mostly due to sea days, I am fully expecting to hear about the last option coming soon to an email inbox near me. My Princess Vacation Planner seems to be MIA and no, not in Miami, despite calling and emailing twice, except for a promotional email letting me know that as Elite cruisers with Princess, we can now book similar sailings for 2022. Personally, I'd like to know one way or the other about my 2021 booking before giving you any money for 2022. 

Now this morning, Carnival has announced that all of their US sailings of any length through the end of January have been cancelled. In addition, any US sailing from the ports of Baltimore, Charleston, Jacksonville, Long Beach, Mobile, New Orleans, and San Diego through February 28th have been cancelled in order to focus on sailings from Miami and Port Canaveral after January followed by Galveston. In case anyone is in need of entertainment that reminds you of a trashy guilty pleasure reality show meets train wreck, Royal Caribbean has announced that you can sign up to be selected to participate as a volunteer in a simulated cruise so they can test out the CDC required protocols. Those interested should fill out the form and then are encouraged to join the "Volunteer of the Seas" Facebook group. I didn't fill out the form but did join the group. If you thought people went nuts for Oprah's Favorite Things...