Bobbingbob

Good luck and really hope you’ll be OK to board. Totally understand your excitement and fingers crossed for you. 
Whatever happens, have a very enjoyable and safe cruise whether it’s with MSC or Costa and please let us know how it all goes.

The situation is unpredictable, I agree, and it would be really great to hear from any early brave cruisers as to what it feels like onboard right now and over the coming weeks and months. I noticed yesterday a kind Italian cruiser posted a really interesting review on here of the Smeralda back in November I think it was.

I really hope that by March 2022 you WILL have a great cruise! 

I’ve noticed some ‘flash’ warnings during my browsings on the Costa U.K. website saying that due to current restrictions some of the usual Costa Club privileges may not be available. I am sure cruising now will be a totally different experience to pre-Covid.

Thank you for that and I’m thinking myself about mid September onwards after school holidays are over with.

Hello to you all

I haven’t looked at this website for a very long time so I am pleased to see it is still here and functioning thanks to you all! I was just wondering whether/when anyone is hopeful of resuming cruising, this year or next? Or maybe someone somewhere has already been able to take a cruise?

I think some cruise lines are insisting on vaccinated passengers only but with Costa this does not seem to be the case?

I would be interested to know what any recent cruisers felt about safety measures and if they enjoyed a relaxing cruise?  UK government advice (and USA, too, I think) still seems to be against cruising even if you are fully vaccinated. 
Does anyone know if there have been any recent Covid outbreaks?

I am not trying to be deliberately gloomy as I am really hoping to begin cruising again as soon as possible!

Do you think any of us will be cruising anywhere this year? We are clearly all cruise fanatics but health is more important than anything. 
I noticed that you could not book on the Costa website a day or so ago. They are, however, keeping things to themselves for the moment. I cannot see any of the ports in the Med opening up in the foreseeable future.

Costa have finally updated their website and say all cruises have been voluntarily suspended until 30th April. They are saying clients booked on these cancelled April cruises will get FCC.

The first cruise they say will start again on the Fascinosa on 2nd May. I very much doubt this.

Think you may have been very lucky in the scheme of things especially being able to disembark in Marseille. It is a rapidly changing scenario. Glad it all worked out well for you.

France seems to have not even been willing to disembark their own nationals so why should anyone else? Every country’s health systems are under enormous strain treating their own citizens, they will not want to admit possible future patients if they can avoid doing so. Cruising must surely stop completely for the foreseeable future.

Marcus, glad to hear you got back home safely. Beginning to think you had a very lucky escape in that your cruise was cancelled, picking up some very disturbing accounts of the recent transatlantics on Costa Luminos and Costa Pacifica (there are separate threads on these) via web searches. Sorry, I can’t post links but someone else will no doubt be able to.

As you say, many people plan cruises well in advance and have intricate holiday plans around the cruise itself. No one envisaged the rapid escalation of this horrendous situation and I have a great deal of sympathy for all caught up in it.
 

Personally, as a Costa cruiser of many years and a real lover of cruises and of the Italians and of Italy, my heart is truly breaking right now. However, I must say (and agree with others who have said this) Costa management have been and continue to be appalling in their handing of it. Yes, the situation is unprecedented and it has no doubt been an absolute nightmare scenario to manage but by not cancelling cruises immediately when it has been blindingly obvious the outbreak is not being brought under control but is worsening in Italy, as it is elsewhere, they are treating their customers disgracefully. They need to act immediately.

Correction: sorry, I think the Luminosa arrives in Malaga tomorrow and Marseille on 20th.

Yes, of course the ports are in lockdown for a month at the moment, aren’t they ? I thought the arrival of the Mediterranean in Venice after a 28 day cruise was beyond the lockdown period but I am clearly wrong about that.

However, the extremely late cancelling of the cruise after everyone had just boarded sounds like a case of panic but however horrible for all the passengers, and I have an enormous sympathy for SWEMarcus and all on board, it is probably better to be safe than sorry especially if there could be other factors involved.

The Costa Luminosa transatlantic cruise ending in Marseille tomorrow has had infections onboard and very sadly one death, I believe. 
SWEMarcus wish you a safe journey home.

Thanks for that.

Yes, we must remain hopeful. It would be so nice to have a cruise to look forward to given the next weeks and months are going to be dire.

How awful, really sorry to hear this. What was the reason your cruise was cancelled and why on earth was the decision to cancel taken so late by Costa?

Apart from the disappointment and inconvenience, obviously what you are being offered does not feel very compensating to you. 
 

Well I suppose if you book a future cruise, you will still have the option of cancelling 45 days before the new date and lose £50 per person. 30% is a big discount, However, at this stage nobody can predict what is going to happen so it is still a gamble.

2 minutes ago, drsel said:

Better to email them

I emailed a question a couple of days ago and no reply yet. Things are extremely difficult there clearly.

Thanks very much ,Tenpin. I also feel very sad indeed about all this and for the Costa employees trying to deal with our phone calls etc. many of whom we have been chatting to for several years.

I wondered why I had received a reply to an email (I had sent a day or two earlier) late on Saturday which I now realise came from the home of the Costa employee. Never known them to be working on a Saturday so that just shows how difficult things are. 

Having put off cancelling I am now reluctantly going to have to do so. I didn’t think companies were allowed to keep your credit card details so as I have always paid this way, I thought I would have to persevere and try to speak to someone. I will send an email, too, confirming my cancellation.

We are in Spain right now caught up in the lockdown here and it is disturbing as the Spanish do not seem to be taking it onboard as there still seem to be a lot of people out and about. The latest Coronavirus figures here are alarming. Just seen the latest French measures clarified and I have to say I think the French government are dealing with this much better than some.

By the way, what did you decide to do? I think I’d be inclined to take the refund personally.

That’s seems a very reasonable offer but how much notice did you get please? Did you have to phone for that info or did they put the offer to you in an email perhaps? Phone lines are very very busy understandably. 

Could anyone please kindly tell me how Costa deal with cancellations? Is it necessary to hang on the phone to them for ages and do they give an instant refund eg, on your credit card if that is how you have paid?

Advance thanks for your help.
Cheers Bob

I think you are probably right regarding your cruise being cancelled and surely Costa will need to start updating and giving out that information soon. I actually believe that the lockdowns in these individual Med countries will go on longer especially in Spain, for example, as the two weeks is highly likely to be extended. Not much point cruising, health risks aside, if you are not going to be able to enjoy many ports?

I hate to say this but this situation is going to go on for many months so no one can predict what is going to happen re.cruises (or anything else for that matter) for the foreseeable future. I have received more advance notification about the changing situation from airlines than from Costa.

Best if luck to you.

I think Costa are way behind virtually all the other cruise lines regarding flexibility and fairness re. Coronavirus concerns. How can you take a cruise with underlying health conditions? You just cannot take that risk.

I am really sorry Tim that you weren’t offered a full refund. This situation is only going to get worse. Borders are being closed, flights being cancelled and how many countries will want cruise ships in their ports?

I suspect there will be many more changes and cancellations to cruise itineraries and I cannot see things just returning to any kind of normality for months.
If you transfer your cruise to July would you then have the option to cancel 45 days before the new date (so if things still look unsafe to go ) and lose only £100 or even to transfer a 2nd time?

Dritan, I think Costa are being rather mean about this and should refund the whole amount including the £100. It is not going to leave a very nice taste in the mouth being penalised over a health risk given that Costa will probably be cancelling anyway. Can they guarantee that none of us will get sick? 

You definitely sound as if you should be fully refunded without question given the very fluid situation, your wife’s health condition and the U.K. travel advice. I think you are emailing your cancellation, refund request, asthma care plan etc. and that you are going to mention that you have been trying  to contact them by phone without success and that you will continue to try to speak to them by phone? 
Probably worth persisting to contact them by phone as you will need to know when/how refund will be made. We are in the same position and have until midweek to cancel so I would be grateful to hear how you get on.

Best of luck

Bob

Naughty puds but they look yummy! Sounds as if Costa are being pretty generous about all this. I was wondering how  the Spanish authorities would handle this so hope it will all work out for you.

Nice photos by the way but I feel very sad that you have not been able to set foot in Italy. We have done this itinerary many times and we have never tired of places like La Spezia, Savona, Genoa. We adore Italy and the Italians ( likewise Spain and the Spanish,  France and the French - all so different in many ways) and this is the biggest tragedy of all time.

Just as well you are dining in the Panorama, good decision to upgrade. Take care.

Just seen that, too. We are waiting to hear exactly what measures the state of emergency in Spain will actually mean. Will tourists here be able to return home?