Lunenburg

Today, I saw a refund in my bank account for my cruise that was cancelled.  It was for November on the Diadema from Abu Dhabi. I had requested the refund on September 21st for the full payment. They had indicated it could take over three months so this was a nice surprise. 

1 minute ago, drsel said:

Yes of course The Cruise is cancelled.
But those who ask for refunds have received payment after many months.
I may just give Costa another chance and book 2 more Cruises.

I might have as well but I don't see any that interest me in the next 18 months at a date we could go.  I have already moved 3 other cancelled trips to fill much of 2021 as Costa did not let us know in a timely fashion and still have one more to fit in. Maybe they will get cancelled too - who knows?

I hope you are able to find some great cruises.

1 minute ago, drsel said:

 

This is a notice of cancellation of your add on shore excursions and other packages which you bought.

Its not an intimation of The Cruise cancellation or the FCC + OBC they are offering.

I have not received any email yet and my sailing is coming up in less than 30 days.

I think the words "due to the cancellation of your cruise"  is specific enough to mean the cruise is cancelled.

I agree it does not include what they might offer but I have already asked for a refund so don't really care what they might offer.

Well, this is the first message I have received from Costa about my Abu Dhabi cruise.

We write to inform you that due to the cancellation of your cruise, all related optional bookings made on MyCosta have also been cancelled.

That was all they said.

They never told me it was cancelled or offered any kind of regret. I feel this is very poor PR on their part.

1 hour ago, gerryuk said:

How valid is the voucher and on which departures can it be used?

The voucher can be spent within 18 months of issue for cruise bookings with return by 30 April 2022.

Considering my cruise was in December  - that does not give us 18 months. I think a refund is a better option.

39 minutes ago, drsel said:

I just spoke to Costa UK and she confirmed that we will get 100% future Cruise credit along with OBC to transfer our full payment to a future Cruise.

If you book a future Cruise up to six nights, the OBC is 150 euros per cabin.

if you book a future Cruise of seven nights or longer, the OBC is 200 euros per cabin.

Didn't mention anything about a full cash refund.
We will get an email shortly.

How long into the future are bookings allowed? They have cancelled all the S. American cruises in 2021 and non residents of the EU are not being allowed on this year and passenger numbers are being reduced. How will everyone get to use up their credits before they expire?

2 hours ago, drsel said:

Now my 2 Costa Diadema Cruises have been removed from the Costa app.

 

But on mycosta.com the Cruises are still showing as booked, but the departure is from Valletta and another port in Italy, not from Abu Dhabi.

The itinerary is completely different-- ports in Italy only.

I still have not received any email confirmation from Costa.

 

 

Yes, same for us - it now show us in Italy and even in the same cabin. I had booked some tours in the UAE which are still showing so now we visit the Great Mosque at Night while in Tenerife.

Do you think they are going to contact us or do we have do something? We certainly won't be on that ship. 

16 hours ago, drsel said:

My 2 Costa Diadema Cruises in October are still seen on mycosta.com as well as on the Costa app.

Alcohol packages, shore excursions, photo packages are still available for purchase on mycosta.com

I was wondering if I had not made the final payment would I have forfeited my deposit?

My booking still shows as well. I think you would have forfeited your deposit under the original conditions of booking. I had a land tour booked and they clearly stated that even if you think your tour will be cancelled you needed to pay the balance or lose the deposit.

I think this is what to expect now.

http://www.cruisetotravel.com/2020/09/10/costa-cruises-reveals-new-2020-2021-winter-schedule/

But if Covid cases continue to rise in the EU,  who knows.

12 hours ago, Costa Cruising Jean said:

I have no idea why you are still discussing about this for a long time, I was booked on the Diadema from Marseille on September 26 and this cruise was canceled officialy by Costa about a month ago, I received the voucher already two weeks ago.

Thank you for the information Jean. It would be nice if Costa informed the rest of us who are booked for cruises in the UAE. We have not been told our cruises are cancelled, that is why we continue to discuss it.

27 minutes ago, drsel said:

Costa UK site is still showing 27th September 2020 departure of Diadema from Italy to Abu Dhabi and the round trip Cruises from Abu Dhabi and Dubai in October 2020.

 

These Cruises are still available for booking right now.

 

I just tried to make a booking on the cruise I am supposed to take from Abu Dhabi on November 27th.  Up until today, I was always able to see cabins available but today I got the message " It is not possible to book the cruise."  This is the first time I have seen that. Not looking hopeful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, drsel said:

My Costa itinerary is still showing that I have to board on the 19th of October in Abu Dhabi.

if they cancel how much advance notice do they have to give us, because I have to buy the air ticket

 It is supposed to leave Rome on September 27th for Abu Dhabi.  They are still accepting bookings. hard to believe if they plan to cancel it. 

I was in touch with a tour company in Dubai and he said '

"As per the current situation you need only a negative test result to move to Abu Dhabi from Dubai and we are expecting that in November things will back to normal."    I wish I was as optimistic.

2 hours ago, Jayayeff said:

The suspension is still in place.... There have been reports of them reopening for the ‘season’ but as of now no start dates have been announced...

 

Anne...

Thanks for the current details, Anne, it would be very surprising for cruiselines to leave Europe for the Middle East if they have no way of boarding passengers there. They must have been given some hope of things opening up to make the trip. What happens to all the folk who are due to leave the ships in Abu Dhabi and Dubai on arrival from Italy?

8 hours ago, drsel said:

They can do a rapid test PCR on disembarkation at Abu Dhabi.

Not sure about the cost.

 

For Qatar and Oman, the passengers can stay on-board, if required by the authorities.

 

This was posted by Anne who lives in Dubai on the Africa Middle East thread on Wednesday 2nd.

"That may be the plan but I can assure you that at the present time nobody can move freely between Dubai and Abu Dhabi and nobody other than UAE Nationals or UAE residence visa holders can fly into Abu Dhabi..  I live in Dubai and haven't been able to travel to Abu Dhabi since Covid-19 travel restrictions were put in place... As of today's date there has been no announcement as to when those restrictions will be lifted... I don't know what other ports are on those itineraries but Oman (Muscat) and Qatar (Doha) are also still both closed to visitors..."

This is currently on the Emirates airlines website  

All passengers traveling to or connecting through Dubai must have a negative COVID-19 PCR test certificate TO BE ACCEPTED ON THE FLIGHT. The certificate must be for a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test taken a maximum of 96 hours before departure. Other test certificates including antibody tests and home testing kits are not accepted in Dubai. Bring an official, printed certificate – SMS and digital certificates are not accepted.

(Emirates have changed my flight from Sao Paulo to two days later as they have reduced the number of flights per week.)

• All passengers traveling FROM Dubai to UK or Europe (and other mandated destinations) will be required to take a COVID-19 PCR test no more than 96 hours before departure and present the printed test result certificate at check-in. Children under the age of 12 and passengers who have a moderate or severe disability are exempt from this test.
• Before you travel, please check the requirements of the country you are traveling to. You may need to take a COVID-19 PCR test before you depart.

ABU DHABI  This is still on the Etihad website  You will only be permitted to enter the UAE if you are a UAE national or resident with a valid visa. All other visa types, including tourist visas, are unable to enter. Seamen are permitted entry. 14 days quarantine is required on arrival in Abu Dhabi

COVID-19 test required to fly to Abu Dhabi and must be presented at check in.
If you are travelling from another emirate to reach Abu Dhabi airport, you must present a negative COVID-19 test before you will be permitted to enter Abu Dhabi. The test must be valid within 48 hours.
When you arrive in Abu Dhabi, you are required to self-isolate for 14 days.

I hope things change in the next few weeks.

On 9/5/2020 at 7:26 AM, drsel said:

As of now, there are no restrictions for any nationalities boarding Costa diadema in Abu Dhabi and Dubai late October

One issue will be if you are allowed to enter Argentina.  Right now, only nationals and permanent residents are allowed. It is the same in Uruguay. There are reports that they hope to open things to EU residents "In the near future" but  no actual date when that might be and if infections increase then the date will be postponed.

You will see flights for sale but only residents are allowed and most must quarantine for 14 days on arrival right now.

3 hours ago, gerryuk said:

Was that on the Fascinosa or the Pacifica? I have done that cruise on the Fascinosa for the last 2 years and again this year, if it sails. The only freebies was a bottle of wine and a plaque of the ship but this was for points in mycosta. No free wine at the dinner table though.

 

 It was the Pacifica. We found the waiters very generous  with bottled water and wine at both lunch and dinner. Usually someone took the bottled water at the end of the meal as it was left on the table for everyone.

The only issue we noticed was that one of our CruiseCritic members had requested a gluten free diet and when others saw the food she got also asked for a gluten free menu. The second time several people asked for the gluten free choice, the Head Waiter came over and said unless they had it on record with a doctor's note, they could not have it as the ship did not have enough onboard for everyone, which was fair enough.  We had a group of 10 or more Cruise Critic folk almost every sea day for lunch and it was a nice group.

44 minutes ago, drsel said:

No mention about October in the Middle East

And yet you can still book this and others!

On the UK website Costa states

 It will initially be a gradual restart from our Italian ports, reserved exclusively for our Italian guests.

It seems you can still book the cruise you have been cancelled from - perhaps you were removed because of your nationality?  

I am also booked on the Diadema from Abu Dhabi November 27th. I paid in full months ago including the service charges as well as flights from Sao Paulo so we will have to see what happens.  

My cruise does not fall into the "Have you booked a cruise with a departure before the end of October" so I don't know if I can cancel it  at present anyway.

I did a repo cruise from Savona to Buenos Aires last year and a few nights our waiters gave free glasses of wine to some of our table mates. Some of us had drink packages and  some did not.  Now and again they just brought out bottles of wine and gave a glass to anyone who wanted it.

34 minutes ago, akmarshall said:

We have a South America cruise booked for January 29th and we too are concerned that the virus will not be under control in South America by then. 

I am not sure the US is doing any better than down here according to the WHO. 

                                               Total cases    and    # last  24 hours           Total deaths and             last24 hrs.        

Here in Uruguay we have only had 24 deaths and 850 cases. Currently there are only about 12 active cases. The border with Brazil is closed although there are still a few flights leaving here either through Sao Paulo or Santiago for non residents wishing to leave. There are still a few Uruguayans wanting to return and they are being tested and quarantined on their return.

I am very impressed how things are going here, schools are slowly going back, many shops are now open with most requiring face masks and today they are allowing events to start up with strict regulations. I even managed to make a hair appointment for next week!

The government is anxious to open to tourism but worried about exposing us all to a new outbreak. The original cases here were from a woman fashion designer who went to Madrid and on return here although not feeling well went to a big wedding and infected a number of people including a doctor from another city who then spread it there.

They are doing a lot of testing here  - the latest case was a health worker in Treinta y Tres and now twenty people who were in contact with her are in quarantine just in case.

Things are going well in Uruguay - we have "only" had 20 deaths and things are slowly opening although shopping malls are still closed and the borders with Argentina and Brazil are closed and people are mostly at home although today families are allowed to get together and primary schools are open.

Flights are not happening still except for cargo and to repatriate people from abroad. But  I still get ads from LATAM encouraging people to book flights and I can book a flight from Montevideo to Lima for July so I would not give up hope yet.

Both Peru and Ecuador have more cases though than we do with less testing and Peru had over 4,000 new cases today and 131 deaths while Ecuador had over 1200 cases and 94 deaths in the last 24 hours. 

I think it still a wait and see.

9 hours ago, 1submarine said:

Yes, you might be right. The only reason I decided to go on cruise is to have a holiday with parents. I felt anxious even when we were waiting for the transfer at the pier - maybe next time we will choose another type of travelling.

Sounds like a good decision. You never know until you try something. My father would never fly, he avoided it his whole life -trains, boats, cars, buses all fine but not planes. Fortunately, cruise ships can be more easily avoided than planes these days.

Have a look at https://www.tangol.com/eng/  It might give you an idea of the options.  I cannot say anything about this company as I have not used them myself.

Where it says enter your destination just put in Chile to see various day and multiday trips.

On 4/22/2020 at 12:45 PM, kathy49 said:

maybe spring 2021? Not even sure about that. No way in May 2020

 We already had a cruise booked for the end of November from Abu Dhabi on the Diadema,  I am hoping it will go ahead but will wait and see.