idh2019
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Posts posted by idh2019
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Today I found a paragraph somewhere on the Marella site (probably FAQs) that indicate passengers would not need a wifi package to send test results to lab.
I think only tests when getting on in the UK was ever covered by Marella. Tests during the cruise are passengers' costs (unless things change - too early to say?).
Cuba is on the red list so Marella will not be going there until it changes.
Suggest you wait until the balance is due and decide what to do at that point. Note that Marella have moved the free change date out to April 2022.
We are supposed to be on the repo from Palma to Barbados in October. Cape Verde is red so two extra sea days (9 in a row). Plus lots of testing for the Caribbean = £££££
Currently busy working out an alternative in 2022 for the free change. Definitely not paying the balance in a week's time.
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In the cruise out of Newcastle last week, we were allowed to do do our own thing at several ports. Probably depends on what each port allows. No risk at some ports - not a lot of people.
We did not find out about the change until into the cruise.
Some people were not happy with this change - essentially the secure bubble was burst by individuals going off on their own.
Ironically the Liverpool excursion to "The Beatles Story" was a potential source of infection being a mix of cruisers and general public for an hour in a cellar!
We also went out on our own and maintained social distancing.
I think we got away with it.
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Check this Marella page for your cruise https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/info/cruise-entry-requirements
Coastal Charms is on there. But make sure to look at both cruise and return requirements.
And as Jim points out, choose the correct package for your country!
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10 hours ago, nancyneptune said:
Hi, glad you are enjoying your cruise. Just read some reviews and people saying that some passengers deliberately flouting the face mask and social distancing rules. Also breaking the rule about only being able to dance at your table and several on the dance floor and the crew turning a blind eye to it. This sort of thing puts me off booking as it could ruin the cruises for everyone if an outbreak of the virus occurred on the ship due to a few selfish people.
Where are these reviews that you mention?
Given that UK is now allowing nightclubs to open, why the strict rules on dancing on ships? If want to dance with my wife on a dance floor, why is this a problem?
If we have all been tested for COVID on boarding, where is the outbreak coming from because of dancing with people from their "bubble" ?
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Someone is not being very imaginative at TUI. I understand your frustration.
A year or so ago I asked about adding a third week on to a two week repo to Far East. Apparently not a simple booking online but it could be done. No mention of flight booking problems. Then COVID happened and I abandoned the idea for now.
Try ringing them direct - you will need to wait about 45 minutes before getting though (strange how it is almost exactly the duration each time!). If they cannot provide an answer, ask them to ring back.
I had a problem recently with upgrading flights on a repo and they DID ring me back - they could not do it quickly while I was on the phone.
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We have the same concerns, although not travelling until August so a bit longer for "level 0" to occur.
Looking at https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/info/cruise-our-promise there is a paragraph:
"When we’ll get in touch
• If we need to make what we would consider to be significant changes to your holiday, we’ll get in touch with you directly to discuss alternative cruises, arrange a credit note or a cash refund.
• For example, if you’ve booked an itinerary and we can no longer deliver it altogether, we’d consider that to be a significant change. "One would hope that the number of extra sea days would be a "significant change" and trigger cancellation/refund options.
Which has an article about this: https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/a-change-was-made-to-my-cruise-itinerary-can-i-get-a-refund-ad8077k7bL8J
I saw that the recent 3 day cruise had one extra sea day because it could not stop in Scotland - I could probably live with that but not 4 extra sea days on an 8 day cruise,
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Loved AQ but now hate Celebrity over their reluctance to cancel impossible cruises with all the associated stress.
It will need a big change of personal opinion about infections on cruise liners to cruise with anyone again but Celebrity may not be on that list.
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1 hour ago, az_tchr said:
Do you think there is any chance your April cruise will sail? Why have you not cancelled already? Airlines if you booked are offering refunds - any flight change of over 1 hour - and credits. Most accommodations are offering credits and refunds - yeah there are a few that are not. X will provide a FCC.
Celebrity is struggling not only in cancelling cruises but keeping staff as they are subject to restrictions in their phone center! FCCs from early March are still in line for processing.
Sooooo are you waiting for a 125% FCC or a refund?
My April cruise will not sail but I want refunds back to my credit card, not a voucher for a future flight or FCC/credits. I may never cruise again or leave the UK again so I do not want to be committed to cruise or flights sometime in the future. Hence I am waiting for cancellations that allow a refund (= not Celebrity-speak for FCC).
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Latest news from Hawaii: "shelter in place"
https://hawaiicovid19.com/shelter-in-place-ordered-for-honolulu-and-maui-curfew-in-place-for-kauai/
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And Hawaiian Airlines are stopping all except HNL-LAX route from Thursday so that adds to my reasons for not getting on the cruise even if I wanted to.
How long before other airlines stop going to HNL?
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Two articles by the same "correspondent". Oops! Singing out loud with fingers in ears.
Apparently the death rate is "far "lower than initial estimates" at 1.4%. Still singing.
For the US that would be about 4.5 million. How many died from flu?
Edit: UK data shows 4.9% fatalities - just hoping that is lack of testing and we have three times as many cases as reported.
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Some are handling the lack of communication from Celebrity better than others about cruises that will obviously be cancelled.
For me there is a lot of money at stake which includes business class travel to the US and back to the UK, and an Aquaclass cabin. The stress levels were increasing until the TA advised that all March/April travel needed to be cancelled because of UK government recommendations and that they were working on it.
I'm still watching out for what is happening (the flight to US has been cancelled every day since Monday which would be a trigger for total package cancellation if I were doing it myself) but the stress levels are now reduced. Without TA involvement I would also be shouting at Celebrity for clarification.
Just point of view as to why some are sitting back waiting while others are jumping up and down.
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On 3/19/2020 at 3:00 PM, dronnygirl said:
Hi flopsy, sorry to hear you gave up cruising. Think quite a few may also give up after all this. We were really looking forward to cruising the Baltic from Newcastle but think these cruises will all be cancelled.
Hope people can keep us smiling on this thread, desperate for something to smile a out! Keep safe and well😊
And sadly the Baltics don't see, to be on the 2021 list of cruises. US expansion instead?
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Agree.
When it all started in January, we were breathing a sigh of relief that we were back. Good that Marella and passengers continued so long without any problems 😀. But it had to stop eventually.
After several day parked off Singapore, Disco is now heading NW. I guess to Europe since nothing on the repo is going to work out.
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5 hours ago, Rebel Rouser said:
I have 3 cruises booked for 1st May for 2 weeks (retirement) Explore cruise and another week from the 9th June on the Dream and one more in July for my big birthday again on the Dream. and I'm fairly certain we are not going on any off them being very practical and seeing what else is going on in Europe at this moment in time.
Just waiting till 1 week before each one is meant to sail that we are meant to be cruising and getting an Email from Marella (tui) to either re-book or cancel and getting a full refund.
At this moment in time me and my immediate family are all safe and well and hopefully look back and say well I/we lived through the great Virus..Cruising is not on my priority list.
RR
My retirement cruise is supposed to be with Celebrity in April but not going to happen (Hawaii/Vancouver).
Only started cruising in October with Marella and somehow manged to fit in another three Marella cruises since then. Not sure why we had a sudden urge to do this but it is looking very fortunate now. Maybe I should do the lottery!
Whether we will ever do another cruise is going to depend - how soon will we all forget?
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Removed - wrong thread
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But someone might just have the nerve (and money) to book at that price and then take 125% FCC. 😉
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1 hour ago, TeeRick said:
Sail safe and make the best of it. Having 14 days cruising to San Diego with full provisions and no virus actually sounds very appealing to me right now compared to my home situation. We are all with you!
Be prepared for life back home to be very different from when you left. 14 days plus the time you have already been on board is a long time in the status of this virus. Enjoy the cruise.
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8 hours ago, Vitalsign said:
According to MarineTraffic Discovery 2 and Explorer 2 are 'waiting for orders' as their listed destination
Explorer 2 was in Bridgetown port for 2 days but is now outside the port with four other ships including Azura
Dream is sailing up the Spanish coast with no destination listed (Gibraltar is out of date)
Explorer has been in Las Palmas for 2 days
Discovery is still showing in the sea outside Laem Chabang but the info is 4 days old
Take a look on CruiseMapper.com. Select Ships and the cruise line and ship.
Disco has been stationary off Singapore for the last few day after it left Laem Chabang on Monday (IIRC).
I assume the propulsion problems of January were fixed ( we were on her then), otherwise would it not use this pause in operations for repairs?
Tomorrow was supposed to be the start of the repo (from Langkawi?) but not much of that possible any more. No Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India. Haven't kept up to date with Middle East restrictions.
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7 hours ago, TeeRick said:
and I really do feel that they have acted responsibly. The world changed rapidly. Everybody and everything got caught up quickly with no time to plan everything perfectly. Including me.
They should all have had plans in place not, as it appears, make them up on the fly.
In the US company I work for (unrelated to travel industry), it is is known as a "Business Continuity Plan" and you test it annually. For a cruise line a suitable test would seem to be a virus spreads quickly (perhaps nothing quite as dramatic as this): so what should we do to keep the business going?
Sadly for Celebrity (and others?) that seems to mean "keep the money coming in and stop it going out".
They need leaders!
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15 minutes ago, downsmead said:
Not sure where you get the 225% FCC, if you cancel under CwC, you get 100%FCC. If X cancel, you get the option of 100% cash refund or 125% FCC.
There is a lot of difference between 125% and 225%!Special deals for special people?
Anyway back to topic. We are NOT going on our Celebrity cruise. We got back from a Far East cruise on 9th January (not with Celebrity). Covid-19 kicked off in China the following week. We realised how lucky we had been. So we decided about a month ago not to risk our luck again. Yes, the stress levels since then have been high, but we decided we could just about "live with" the loss of all money if that was the worst case scenario. Hard-earned cash lost but health before vacation.
Since then the option of FCC from Celebrity and future flight vouchers from the airlines we have booked with have given us some comfort but would we ever really want to use them in the allowed time frame? Not likely.
With the worsening of the disease we see that cancellations and 100% refunds are now likely so we are holding out. Today's UK FCO advice to not to travel anywhere should help and our travel agent is indicating they will be working to cancel all March/April travel for their customers - UK has various regulations in place if things get cancelled so hopefully they should kick in.
If we get most of out money back, a big sigh of relief while we face weeks of "social distancing". I can probably cope. My wife needs more than me to talk to 😁
PS regarding use of TA in forums - is it travel agent or transatlantic?
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15 minutes ago, UKPete71 said:
At the moment the US cruise restriction is only until 10th April. Could any quarantine be raised by 1 May, when it reaches the UK? Possibly, although unlikely. Just because I can't fly to the US doesn't mean they should cancel now, as there will be plenty of US cruisers on it who won't be quarantined ahead of time.
Have you not seen the UK FCO advice for UK residents not to go anywhere for the next 30 days (with likely extension) which moves the restriction further out than the US version? Isn't that going to have an effect on your future cruise = no travel insurance and perhaps airlines not flying to US?
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1 minute ago, hladygirl said:
Anyone that is booking a cruise now for future travel could take the risk of the cruiseline filing for bankruptcy and no money to customers being refunded. I am not willing to take that risk personally.
Agree. Also need to consider airline bankruptcy.
Which is why I am desperately trying to avoid FCC, vouchers from airlines for future travel, etc. Holding on to the final few days before travel hoping for cancellation or government guidance that would trigger refunds. The FCC/vouchers are at least a last resort!
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2 minutes ago, Gimpy McFarlan said:
While I can see the logic (and personal benefit) of keeping us onboard for a slow cruise to prove no Covid-19 exists I’m not sure Celebrity wants that liability. If an illness (would not even need to be Covid) were to occur onboard the chances of it spreading fast are high. What if a crew member catches something while refueling, moving supplies onboard or off boarding trash? People were kept on Princess and it did not end well for a lot of passengers.
Fair comment and completely agree with that scenario - quarantine on a ship is what we definitely want to avoid.
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Marella excursions
in Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson)
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The four billion euros in loans is from the German Government and is to TUI (not TUI UK).
TUI need to service that debt but hopefully European (and UK) income from holidays and cruises will be enough to allow them to continue.
The flight changes may simply be a consequence of lack of bookings so instead of running an almost empty plane, TUI are using 3rd party airlines. Not unusual.