CanadianKate

That's part of the reason I rebooked was to make sure all expenses were covered in full. I get my non-refundable flights covered in full as well as the cancellation fee on my other flights. And my flight cities are different so there's no comparison of flights. One was business class to Europe, the other is economy to the US. 

In my case, though, I had two cruises cancelled so I got the best of both worlds. The rebooking covered all expenses but I'll get money back from 1/3 of the planned holiday so can use that to cover a different sort of holiday at the end of the cruise. Plus one 10% FCC and one 20% FCC.

After doing all the rebooking, I emailed my agent to keep her up to date (when she gets back to the office) and apologized for swooping in to do her job and thanked her again for the heads up last night so I could act first thing today. She emailed me back (she's on holiday but still checking email...) that she was pleased I had taken action to minimize the disruption to my holiday. 

If I saved her trouble, I'm glad. I know she'll go to bat for me once she is back. Due to the problems with asbestos being known before I paid in full, I want increased compensation because they took my money even though the odds of completing on time were very low. 

Edited to add: Windstar originally wanted me to contact my agent. I explained to them that my agent was away until after Christmas and I wanted to snag the cabin on the cruise I wanted while it was still available. I knew it was available thanks to www.WindstarWizard.com.

So the customer service rep then let me proceed with the change. Then again, while I'm not a travel agent, my job is to make all the travel arrangements for our business and I'm awfully good at that. But cruises is something I leave to my TA.

When it comes to air, even on holidays, I also make my own arrangements unless the cruise line is cheaper (that's happened only once over the last decade.) If something happens when I'm on the other side of the world and I need to make changes, I can without having to go through the agent. Cruise line air departments often won't make arrangements from my city. I have to get to a proper international airport and then transfer to the cruise line flights. I'd rather not have that additional expense. 

5 hours ago, milepig said:

Meanwhile, our TA pointed out a problem with the airfare reimbursement - WS needs both your old and new booking details by January 17th,  so they can calculate the difference, but the offer is good until the end of 2021 and you can only book airfare 331 days out. Oops.

Good catch. 

It took me a minute to realize what your problem is. You are worried flights will be more in 2021 than what you've already booked for 2020. 

I didn't think of that. 

My new airline bookings will be my responsibility. It turns out to be roughly the same to get to the beginning of the cruise as it was to get home from the end before. The end of the cruise I won't be able to get home on reward miles (rewards are gone now) but I found a way home that isn't a lot more money than the taxes were on my reward flight to the beginning of the cruise. This flight is not refundable so if they pull the same cancellation on my rebooked cruise, they'll end up owing me more money. 

24 minutes ago, dandee2 said:

https://palermo.gds.it/articoli/cronaca/2019/11/06/la-star-breeze-a-palermo-trovato-amianto-sulla-nave-da-crociera-38ebde14-1673-46ac-bda0-bff247d9cc80/

Nov 6. My agent was told on November 16 or 17 everything was on schedule. 

That's a deliberate mistruth. They either deliberately didn't tell their agents that there would likely be delays OR they did and instructed the agents to lie when asked. 

Either way, their compensation offer is looking less and less fair. They took my money  for full payment while knowing my trip would not happen.

Host Jazzbeau:

I highly recommend you keep checking www.windstarwizard.com. It appears to update overnight each night and was completely accurate in my case. 

The CSR I talked to said they'd be bringing on new itineraries for high demand areas. I was questioning if my rebooked cruise would be cancelled since the Legend should now going into refit later. (It makes no business sense to move her back to Europe in Feb and taking her out of service while the Breeze is also out of service.) She assured me my new cruise must be going ahead or else they wouldn't have accepted me rebooking on it (at the much discounted rate.) 

I'm guessing they are keeping the Feb 1 Legend cruise in place to handle T-ATL nerds such as myself rebooking from the cancelled LIS - MIA cruise, who just wanted to be on the water, not in port. 

Thanks for the quick answer!

13 minutes ago, dandee2 said:

I would not fear travelling with WS if the price is right (me Canadian talking LOL )

Dan

I'll come out of this roughly even assuming all non-refundable are covered, which they should be since I rebooked. 

So aside from leaving 3 weeks earlier on our trip, this is going to work for us. Again, between an early heads-up from the TA and www.windstarwizard.com I was able to recover with just about 5 hours of lost sleep and 8 hours of planning time as my cost. That's not bad at all. 

5 minutes ago, dandee2 said:

Speculating about the cause will not answer people inquiries about refunds, itinerary changes, etc. WS probably knows by now that this issue is now talked about publicly. Give them a few days to come up with an "official" explanation instead of us getting bits and bites of simili-answer by TA's or unofficial channel.

It won't take that long. My travel agent said last night a formal statement would be coming out today. Her call late last evening was to give me a heads up so I didn't hear about it in the press and that extra time helped me recover a winter vacation. 

16 minutes ago, avalon1025 said:

Trying to reach Windstar for over an hour trying to get information on these cancellations.    Once this is sorted, good bye Windstar.   

Sorry about that! I was on the phone for about an hour. Approximately 15 - 20 minute wait to get off hold and then a wonderful customer service experience with J. 

I'm now booked on the Legend from San Juan to Lisbon so I'll get my Trans-Atlantic although it will be 14 hours shorter (eastbound has 23 hour days vs 25 hour days on when westbound), on the old ship, and in a comparable cabin but with an obstructed view. That downside is offset by a real balcony. My booking class on the Breeze doesn't exist on the old ships but this cabin is comparable and they are applying the cancelled cruise fare as payment in full (quite the price adjustment compared to rack rate.)

I've cancelled the second cruise booked (Barcelona to Lisbon) and the credit is being applied to my credit card fairly quickly. I could have had a cheque but she said the credit card refund would be about a week faster. 

I still have to book my flights (and the second half of the vacation which will now take place on land.) And rebook medical appointments and haircuts, but we are well into recovery mode now. 

My travel agent will handle the recovery on non-refundable expenses in January. In the meantime, I'm cancelling what I can from here but the biggest ticket item will be the trip insurance. 

A huge thank you from me to the Cruise Critic member who created WindstarWizard.com. I could not have had such a successful outcome without your website. I knew exactly what I wanted, right down to which cabin, and your information was accurate so the rep was able to quickly make the booking for me. 

Are there guest machines on board? (I'm coming from Silver Sea which offers guest laundry rooms on all ships.) 

A thread has been started for the Star Legend's cancellations already. 

14 minutes ago, milepig said:

At this moment WS, legend or otherwise, has no place in my future travel plans given the poor compensation offered. 

WS has all my 2019/2020 travel money in their hands. I either rebook with them or give up traveling this winter at all.  Anything all-inclusive or cruise will require payment in full on booking because I'm within 60 days of traveling. 

I use a highly successful, luxury travel agent in Canada. Recommended to me on my first cruise by another passenger from Canada. Neither of us live in the city where the agency is located but then again, that isn't necessary in this day and age (although I started with this agent over a decade ago.)

I've stuck with them due to reasonable advice, quick response on bookings and a decent on-board credit. 

The reason to use a TA is when things go badly. This will be my first test of that. Last night, I received a phone call at 8:45 from  my agent who had emailed me about the cancellation but wanted to talk to me in person to say that she would do everything she could and to give me her holiday hours (she's now out of the office until after Christmas.) 

In the reviews of Windstar, the theme that head office is a pain to work with comes up repeatedly. With this cancellation, the miserly compensation offered plus the fact that I have $20K tied up with them until they decide to refund me so can't book another cruise or all-inclusive holiday. combined with the time of year, will make this a real challenge for my agent. But I still feel I'm better off than handling head-office on my own. We'll see if they even respond to my 'request a call' that I put in last night. I've identified an alternative cruise but need to lock that up before the other 1000 or more affected passengers want to rebook. 

 

Hmmm, the Legend is part of my recovery plan from the cancelled Breeze. 

 

2 hours ago, Kiwi Brenda said:

We booked an entire five week holiday around our first Windstar cruise 27th May.  Won’t ever sail with them now. They were happy to take thousands for shore excursions as well. Our bucket list trip has been devastated by this cancellation! Nice Christmas present

Hello to Upper Hutt. I saw your location and thought I've been there! Actually, no, it was Lower Hutt and a day trip up the coast so I haven't actually been to Upper Hutt. Wellington is one of our favourite cities (we have a client based there so have had a couple of trips there and have several friends in the area.) 

Yes, you are coming a long way and it is disappointing. You have time to recover, though, and to get your money back for the portion you've paid to Windstar. But the compensation is measly. 

If you post an outline of your plans, perhaps us North Americans can help you come up with suitable replacement so you don't have to abandon your airfare. I do hope you are coming to Canada so I can help with fresh ideas. 

I didn't get to bed last night until I had a plan for us which I won't share in full until I find out if it is doable. I was on two cruises so if I'm allowed to split the compensation and rebook one + refund the other, by the time the credit card bills arrive from the land portion of the my new vacation plan, I'll have the refund from Windstar. I'm trading away an 8 day cruise, and replacing a cruise on a completely 'new' ship with all sorts of amenities, for an old ship that is being pulled from service because it is ready to be rebuilt. That will mean lots of little things not working since there's no point doing repairs on a ship that is heading to be gutted in a few weeks. And this cruise is east-bound instead of west-bound therefore 14 hours shorter. But the price doesn't reflect that. 

I requested a call from Windstar last night. Am hoping it comes by 10 this morning. If not, I'll call them. 

I had my TA ask before I made my final payment (because I was booking flights and having to decide if I'd book on my own or with them to simplify if the cruise was put delayed.) She was assured everything was fine and on schedule. That was a month ago. We were referred to the lovely videos. I was prepared for an extra week in Barcelona. Or the first cruise cancelled and the second one running a bit late. This has gobsmacked me and since the cancellations run for so long. How they went to being so far behind in a month is what makes me think they knew and they misled my agent. 

Our flights to Europe are cancelled now, $170 fee. Plus 2 billing cycles on the credit card to get the $1500 in taxes back (these were frequent flyer reward flights.) 

I'm now in a catch 22. I can't book another holiday until I get the money back from Windstar. I can't put in my claim to Windstar until I know if I'm using the non-refundable MIA home flights for another holiday. If I am, then I won't have them in my claim. They were a great price so I hate to give them up and end up replacing them with something more expensive on the same plane. 

MIlepig: I asked my TA if I'll get the money for the trip insurance back from that company since the cruise they are insuring isn't happening.  She's actually not sure. If you rebook something else (i.e. 2021 Alaska) then you'd get all your other money back. And you haven't paid in full yet so you aren't tying up a lot of money for an extra year. In my case, I paid in full and I'm within 60 days of sailing.  Ironically, paid the credit card off this evening before the news. Not that it would have made a difference. 

I've pointed out to my TA that I have no money with which to book another trip. I'm half-hoping they'll float the money for a different cruise so I can book something else now. 

Edited to clarify my response to Milepig

Whoa, this is bad. 

Thanks for the input folks! This answers some questions for me. 

I was so excited. This was my first cruise in a proper 2 room suite. This was my first Windstar Cruise. And after suffering major depression last winter, this was me fighting back so it wouldn't happen again this year.  Funny thing about depression, it wasn't really gone, it was just lurking under the surface waiting to roar back up. 

What makes things bad, is they have $20K of my money and I can't afford to book any other holiday until I get that money back. Which means a month or more of stewing over this and sinking even deeper. When the money comes back, it will be too late to book another holiday unless I'm willing to pay the higher last-minute airfare.  So I'm struggling tonight not just with the lost cruise, but losing out on any vacation at all. 

Hi,

Just got the email via my TA. 

Options are rebook on another cruise and get any non-refundable arrangements refunded 100%, price protection on the booking (not exactly sure what that means since it is limited to region and duration but my duration was a back-to-back and my region is a trans Atlantic so booking another one is not really easy.) Plus a 20% credit on a future cruise and $100 shipboard credit.

The best choice except there is nothing remotely similar being offered by Windstar at the time of this cruise. 

OR (the poor choice) 100% refund, plus up to $350 of my non-refundable travel arrangements, plus a 10% discount.  

My trip insurance was over 3x the amount they are covering, my US to home flights are non-refundable and I'm not sure what it will cost to cancel my flights (partially refundable, I'll put the cancellation in tomorrow.) 

Thoughts? Experiences with previous cruise cancellations?

We may be overdressed on our cruise. We'll see. Dressing up is one of the things we love about Silversea, especially since we live a very different life ashore and never get a chance to dress up. We have the baggage allowance for the extra bag with the tuxes and gowns so love to play dress-up. (Both of us, my dh bought a dinner jacket and eventually had another formal jacket made in Hong Kong after our first SS cruise.) 

We are unlikely to bring the formal wear with us (I realize that's going too far!)  I've informed dh he doesn't even have to bring a jacket or tie, but he's already said he'd like to anyway. So we'll be the quite dressy people you see on a cruise, not because we think you should be dressy but because we like to be. It adds to the dining experience for us (at home we also don't dine, we just eat.)

Thanks for the welcome! 

I had gathered from other posts there is a mini-fridge and am thrilled. That part is just like Silversea. 

I'll be with you on the Breeze. 

We live for sea days, we are social and look forward to meeting new people, and we are also looking forward to catching up on reading (and writing in my case) as well as watching movies (downloaded to our laptops or from the ship's collection.) 

The comment about continued work on the ship has me concerned. I am taking the cruise to get a break from continual construction noise in my apartment building. It doesn't matter where the work is being done, it reverberates through the concrete.  I was looking for a vacation that did not involve me having to wear noise cancelling headphones. 

Have I chosen the wrong cruise? 

Just got off the phone with my TA to book our first Windstar Cruise. So many questions, so now I'm reading my way through this forum. 

I'm used to all-inclusive lines so the 'drinks package cost'was worrisome to me. By following the drink prices link above, I've just discovered soft drinks are included. This is wonderful news to me. We don't drink alcohol but I was budgeting for a drinks plan for soft drinks, and now I don't. We're on a back-to-back so laundry is also included. So now I just have to figure out tipping. 

Granada. Went this past winter and loved it and I'd be happy to go again for 3 - 4 weeks next time. But likely not this winter.

What will probably happen is Ken will go to Africa for a few weeks to the aid project we are supporting there since he really minds the cold and I'll stay home because I don't mind. This winter we are welcoming 14 refugees to the city so that will keep me busy and there is our first grandchild arriving as well.

Since moving into the city my desire to travel has dropped dramatically.

As well, I'm just not a WC person; I don't like being away from home more than 28 days. And while getting a taste of different countries was wonderful while cruising, now I just want to park myself in one place I loved during a cruise visit and fully explore it.

The recent marketing push for this one has me scratching my head, though and wondering about the sales. I sense desperation. As well, the recent 2016/17 brochure that arrived in the mail also has multiple ~$300/day options, something that used to be hard to find. The Wind's March TA looks interesting since it hits a few favourite places and a few new ones to us plus lots of sea days which makes it tempting to break our "no east-bound" rule. Except we spent the travel budget for 2017 and 2018's is spoken for as well so we'll see how hard a winter it is and how desperate we are to get away come March.

We were away on holiday and returned home to find the FedEx door hanger on the bulletin board in the mail room. A neighbour moved it from our apartment building's front foyer and posted it there waiting for us to return.

We weren't expecting any parcels but dh guessed it was Silversea when it was two items. The number on the paper was illegible and there was no date but a call to FedEx eventually confirmed the parcel would still be at the holding spot.

We walked over today and were required to provide both ID and sign for.....

Advertising!

Two copies of it.

Totally unimpressed.

Not many people can book a world cruise with only 4 months prep time, especially not rookie ones and I'm assuming all the experienced world cruisers would have already booked long ago.

Not that I would ever book a WC but I can't imagine taking such a rushed departure - making plans to put my life on hold for 4 months isn't easy. I'd be stressed all through the Autumn and over Christmas.

No thank you.

This sort of expensive push to get more clients makes me think they are doing poorly and are trying to con a few more people to hand over some money.

I'd do Sydney to Geraldton but those are part of two segments and, while I'm sure SS may actually be willing to split things up (as they did on our Australian segment of a WC in 2011 - at least I think it was 2011) I'm not interested enough to ask.