Charlie Chan

recook9, we have had the same experience so completely understand your frustration.  We booked back to back cruises (Greece) for May 2025 while on board the Pursuit last year to take advantage of the various bonuses offered.  2 weeks after booking we were informed that the cruises would not take place as the Pursuit would be remaining in Japan for an extended season.  We were given the opportunity to move to a couple of other nominated cruises but none suited.  We rebooked (at greater cost) for October 2025. We were given a little extra OBC.

By sheer chance earlier this year, we discovered that the second of the B/B's was also listed as a Charter. This was listed on our booking when I logged in.  It reverted to the normal booking the next day. I did post about this back in February.  We contacted Azamara for clarification but received no answer. The cruise continued to remain bookable on both the charter and Azamara sites.

3 or so weeks ago we received the official email stating the second cruise was now a charter.  We received the same email as you but were given 3 days to decide.   We could not find any cruise round this time that suited us and satisfied the need to retain the back to back status for our OBC etc. The cruise immediately prior to cruise 1 was almost identical to the one we sailed in November last year, so we reluctantly cancelled the first cruise as well. Europe is simply too far for us to travel for a 10 day cruise and it is too early for us to plan 2 years ahead for 2026.  We had $2400 in OBC, so Azamara has certainly benefited financially from our 're-accommodations' while we are back to square 1.

We completely understand that the cruise line has the right to do this according to the booking  contract.  The issue is more the way it is handled and the need for the customer to feel some resolution.

It also seems to me that it was unethical for Azamara to continue list the cruise as bookable on their sites when the ship had already been listed (and bookable) as a charter. Just because other lines may also do this does not mean it is acceptable.

. 

Thank you both for the feedback.  The link to the Pursuit was useful to see how their cancellation was handled.

We have considerable OBC on these cruises so will have to remain patient until we receive notice of the 'cancellation'. Even though it is in the future, it means a substantial change in plans considering the distances we have to travel to Europe.  Other cruises around this time are not suitable as they repeat cruises we have just recently completed.  I think publishing the cruise as a charter was obviously a big mistake on someone's part.

We are booked on B/B cruises on the Onward in October 2025.

On Monday, DH signed in and found that the 2nd cruise - 7 Night Greek Intensive (October 18 2025) was now listed as a booking on an Olivia Charter.  (The original cruises were booked directly with Azamara while onboard last year. Those cruises were subsequently cancelled and redirected to Japan.  We had little option but to change the cruises to October). 

We then checked a number of travel agent sites we have used and the cruise was shown as sold out or unavailable. It was also unavailable on the Azamara site.

We rang the local agent - they have been wonderful the past year - and the consultant we spoke to had no idea how this could have happened without any correspondence from Azamara.  He said he would escalate the issue with head office.

Tuesday - the cruise description after logging in had returned to the Greek Intensive - but it could not be booked on any site.

Wednesday - still showing as Greek Intensive but now bookable on both agent and Azamara sites.

Olivia Travel still lists the cruise as a charter.  They state they always book the whole ship.  Some room categories are shown as wait listed or limited supply so it has to be bookable with them.

We haven't had any further communication from Azamara regarding this issue.  I did take screen shots of the changes.

We would greatly appreciate any insight you may be able to shed on this issue.  I did check a similar charter for this year and it is well supported so it would appear that the charters are popular.

It's all very frustrating.

This is based on our experience in October last year.  Our Azamara cruise embarked and disembarked from Fusina.

No one was allowed to embark or disembark independently in Fusina  There were apparently no facilities at the Fusina terminal to handle cruise passengers.  Everyone checked in at the old terminal - Marittima.  Luggage was tagged and was sent independently. We were then taken by an Azamara bus to Fusina. The reverse happened at the end of the cruise.

There is a cruise terminal in Fusina - but it caters for the boats that ply the lagoon. It was not connected to the area where the cruise ship was moored when we were there.

I really can't comment on Azamara disembarkation transfers to the airport as we were spending the night in Venice. I don't know if the Azamara buses are permitted to go directly to the airport or must return to Marittima first.

I would check carefully to see if you are permitted to disembark independently - things obviously change over time.

Do a google search on Fusina cruise terminal and you will find similar discussion about this issue.  One thread is from Regent Cruise line where they clearly state the same rule.

The previous poster obviously had a very different experience so I would certainly try to get something in writing from Azamara regarding independent disembarkation.

(I meant to add you would also need to check if private vehicles are allowed to enter the Fusina port area if you were hoping to get a private transfer to the airport))

We flew from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires after our Dec 2018 cruise. Fortunately, we had booked a few days in BA after the cruise.

Our flight from Ushuaia did not leave till early afternoon. We were taken into the town and had free time till late morning.  We were all given a substantial snack and taken to the airport. We arrived in BA round 5.00pm I think.

Unfortunately, our bags (along with many other people's) were not on the flight and did not arrive till 9.00pm that evening. We waited at the airport to collect them rather than risk more issues.

Another complication was that our flight landed at the domestic airport (Aeropaque Jorge Newbery - AEP) and the international flights leave from the main (EZE) airport so transfer time has to be taken into consideration. (I don't know if this is always the case.) We know that people had to leave without their luggage. Some missed connections.

I have tried to find the flight details but they are not on the paper work I have kept. I do not think we were told the flight time back till much later in the booking process.

It's worth checking these complications with Ponant before making your bookings. Latam is not very reliable.

Apart from the Latam flights, it was a magnificent experience.

1 hour ago, Hamwen3839 said:

Really happy you have received your refund Riocca.We are now at 11 weeks since Azamara cancelled and still no refund  (cruise of 24 March).I now see that a further 10 cruises have been Cancelled through to end of July.

I really hope those cancellations don’t end up In a heap on top of our one. !!!

Don't give up!! We have received refunds for both Quest cancelled cruises (March 17 and March 28) in the last two days. Full amounts.  Both were booked through our Brisbane travel agent. Doing the happy dance.😀

There is now a report on the Tripadvisor Oman forum that Oman is banning cruise ships from entering for one month. 

Surely Azamara  must now make a decision unless they are hoping Dubai will reopen. Salalah will now be cancelled. Not many ports left. 

I posted on the 28 March roll call,  but for those here, our travel agent passed on another document from Azamara saying the fate of this cruise will be announced on March 16. It’s very difficult knowing what to do with flights under these circumstances with the second cruise not definite. 

Our travel agent has just contacted us to say the Quest cruise departing 17 March has been cancelled. No information regarding the cruise on March 28 as yet. This puts all of us who are on back to back cruises in a very difficult position as flights etc will need to be rearranged. This will be a very expensive process for us.

We urgently need information about the March 28 cruise. We should be given the opportunity to cancel with a full refund, not a credit at this stage.

Thank you to everyone on CC who has kept this thread up to date. We contacted our travel agent yesterday and asked her to follow up the rumours/port closures.  The cruises were still showing as bookable on the Azamara site an hour or so ago.

Everyone needs to contact their travel agents to have this verified. We could not get through to Azamara by phone due to the high number of callers.

I think because ours was an expedition cruise,  people did not dress up as much. There were people who had formal attire. They were in the minority. Most men wore a jacket of some sort and some wore ties.  Ladies in dressy trousers or frocks.  You have a picture taken with the captain, listen to some music in the show room with the official welcome and then everyone goes into dinner. I had black trousers and dressy tops which I wore each night. There were 2 - one at the start and another at the end. There is a set menu on both nights.

My suitcase was under 20 kilos when I left home. (I am a good packer and have a light weight 'travel wardrobe'.) That included summer wear for 10 days in Buenos Aires and Rio before the trip. I still had too much in the way of warm clothing. The Ponant jackets are very warm and we were there in early December which was colder than when you will be there. I feel the cold and still only needed a thermal layer for the Falklands and Sth Georgia. I added a fleece for the Peninsula. I had a pair of Aldi snowboarding pants I found on sale at the last moment and with a thermal layer, they were terrific. I had an old gortex shell pair of trousers that worked well for the Falklands when it was still warm. I had a light down jacket which was useful on board and in Ushuaia before and after boarding. BUT - we didn't have windy weather. It was down to -5 at times according to the daily news letters. Most landings involved hikes and you tended to get very warm on these. My waterproof gloves were warm but I couldn't use the camera with them. The merino liners are very handy to help keep your hands warm. 

The hardest part for me was trying to take things ashore. I had a water proof sack but there wasn't any way to carry it easily. DH bought one with back straps in the shop on board. It is much easier if you have your hands free in the zodiacs.

I did pack a few essentials in my carry on luggage in case of any flight issues with baggage.

I'm not sure about the cost of extra baggage. I did read that it was quite reasonable. You may also have your Ponant jacket with you at the end of the trip so that takes up room. Some people didn't take them home. It is a great souvenir but living in sunny Queensland, I'll never get the chance to wear it again.

Definitely bring a snack. Our flight left at 8.30 from the domestic airport which was great. Breakfast wasn't available when we left the hotel. We did have a muffin in our room which helped. We had an excursion to the National Park in Ushuaia so didn't have lunch till well after 2.00pm. 

Have a wonderful trip - happy to answer any more questions.

16 hours ago, 81Zoomie said:

We are sailing to Antarctica on Ponant’s Le Soleal next week.  We are very focused on the expedition portion of the cruise.  The small ship experience will be a new for us.  We are going with and open mind.  Its’s a French ship.... at the very least the wine should be good 😀. We will review when we return.  You may want to check Trip Advisor as well.

We have just come back from the Great Austral Loop on L'Austral. I intended to do a review but so far, the summer lethargy has set in! I'll just put a few thoughts here.

It was one of the best things we have done. We have cruised extensively - probably Oceania being our favourite line. We did not experience any of the problems others have reported on other Ponant ships. (That is not to say they didn't happen - firmly believe that people's experiences can vary even on the same ship.) I also understand that it is how a cruise line deals with problems that is so important. Fortunately, we had a trouble free cruise.

We found the food very good. I agree that some of the fish was not as good, but we were very happy overall.  I really liked the more European sized portions which enabled you to have a multi course meal twice a day. The cheese selection alone was wonderful. Breads and pastries were lovely. Great self serve ice cream in the upstairs restaurant. The wine was perfectly acceptable, and they would hunt for one we particularly liked if the daily wine wasn't to our liking. Cocktails were strong. We ate mostly in the main dining room and found the waiters were attentive. The staff were all happy, friendly and helpful.

We bought an internet package to begin with. It was very slow, but after a few days, they announced it would be free for all guests and our money was refunded. We were able to check emails etc. But, to be honest, we lost interest in the 'other' world while on the ship.

The expedition staff were amazing. We were fortunate to have Florence as our 'leader'. She and her team were up at the crack of dawn every day checking out the best landing spots. We had 15 naturalists on board - all so enthusiastic about their work and areas of specialisation. We had a briefing each day to explain what we could expect. There were also debriefings - helped to refresh what you had seen.

We couldn't keep to our original route but our wonderful Captain kept us well informed and showed us the weather charts which explained why landings would have been difficult. He regularly stopped the ship when whales were sighted. We had at least two landings a day. Some of the hikes were more challenging than we were led to believe - probably just showing our age. I had one walking pole and found it very useful for extra balance, especially in the snow when it was so easy to take a small step to the side and find your leg buried up to your knee or worse. The naturalists were everywhere - making sure they could give you a helping hand when needed, and chase off aggressive male adult seals. The baby seals were so curious - they would come right up to you and gaze up with their enormous eyes. 

We had amazing weather, especially in the Peninsula itself. Bight blue skies, no wind - picture perfect most of the time. There were plenty of wildlife experiences everywhere we went. The winds were over 100km hour in Drake Passage but I didn't find it a problem. 

We met many people on board who were frequent Ponant travellers. They all commented on the friendliness of the French passengers on this trip compared with other cruises they had done.

If we win the big lotto tonight, I'll be back in a flash!

Areas for improvement - the flights to and from Ushuaia. With everyone toting expensive photographic gear, it was a bun fight trying to get overhead locker space. The crew were trying to make passengers put their carry ons in the checked luggage compartment without much success.The planes were not very comfortable. There appeared to be only one toilet on the flight to Ushuaia. No galley - just a drink and a package of either salty of sweet biscuits. Most people had been up very early to catch this flight so it was a long time before a proper meal. Ponant provided us with a boxed lunch for the return flight which was really appreciated. 

Then, on our arrival back in Ushuaia, probably 20 of us found our bags had not been loaded. We had to wait for the next flight to arrive. There was great confusion here as one official said bags would be delivered to hotels when they arrived and another said there were no night deliveries. We chose to wait and it was probably round 10.00pm (4 hours later) when our bags arrived. Some people had connecting international flights or early morning flights next day. This seemed to be a common problem with Latam flights as we watched many bewildered people on following flights go through the same process.

I really hope you have a similar experience. So much is dependent on the weather. However, the Captain and naturalists will work as hard as they can to make sure you have the best possible opportunity to experience Antarctica in all its glory.

We visited Cuba on an Oceania cruise from Miami in March 2017. The information provided by the government 'smart traveller' site seems to refer to travel by air rather than cruise ship. I have no idea if these rules were in place when we were there as we were not flying into Cuba.

Certainly, the categories for US residents visiting Cuba have been changed by the Trump administration since we visited, but if you check the 'Ports of Call' forum on CC (under the Caribbean forum then Cuba), no one appears to be having any trouble entering by cruise ship and touring independently. Some of the cruise lines seem to be suggesting that you may only sightsee on a ship organised/sponsored tour. As more people report back, this should be become clearer. It sounds a bit like the scare tactics used cruise lines when visiting St Petersburg.

The category for visiting Cuba used to be 'people to people'. This no longer exists. Now the recommended reason for travel is 'support for the Cuban people'. There is no 'tourism' category as this is forbidden by the US govt. You tick your reason for visiting on the paper work the ship provides. The Cuban government is not interested in your reasons - it is an American requirement. Even if you are an Australian, if you are travelling on a ship from a US port, you seem to be classified under the US rules and must fill out this paperwork. US citizens are supposed to keep documentation of their visit for 5 years. This does not apply to us.

We obtained our visas from the cruise line. It was actually cheaper and easier than trying to get them ourselves. It was US $75pp. We were given the visa documentation when we boarded. It is scrutinised when you first enter Cuba but after the first inspection, the border control people just look at your passport. We only docked in Havana but did overnight there so left the ship a number of times. It was all quite painless. It is just a bit slow the first time as everything is scrutinised fully then.

The ship apparently covered the health insurance requirements. No-one asked to see if we had any insurance cover. My spouse is over 70. Perhaps this has changed - as said before, we did not use the govt web site for any information.

I'm guessing that the Aus govt information is more directed at people who are holidaying there independently rather than visiting by ship for a day or two.

We had a wonderful visit and organised all of our touring independently. It was so enjoyable that we have booked to go back in 2019 on a more port intensive cruise. I just hope things will not have changed too much by then!

Let me know if you need any more information.

We are on an Alaskan cruise tour. The weather has been unbelievable. Bright blue skies, no rain to speak of.

Yesterday, we did the Tundra Wilderness Tour. Mt Denali was spectacular. No cloud at all in the morning, and just a little at the turn around point.

We saw bears in the distance, one with cubs. Moose, caribou running on the river plain but then rounded a corner and there was a bear ambling up the road, completely unaware of the buses stopped all around.

Coming back, someone spotted wildlife in the distance. Our guide was jumping up and down with excitement as it was a wolverine. She had only seen 3 in 15 years. As she said, beyond awesome.

I don't have enough adjectives to describe what we have seen. It is worth doing the longer tour as there are at least 2 nights in each town and there are many early starts. We're looking forward to the cruise to recover!

The organisation is excellent. Only downside has been the standard of accommodation in some places. I have read all of the reasons/excuses but it would be good if HAL spent a bit more money upgrading facilities.

Jacqui, I really appreciate the time and effort you have put into reporting on your experience. I'm so glad you received support from others - it can be lonely out there! Your balanced observations have helped me so much in my planning and also my expectations.

We board the Nautica in a couple of days for our first Oceania cruise. We choose our cruises by the itineraries and to date, HAL has given us the best options. We have also cruised with Celebrity and Azamara and a couple of the river cruise companies. We are very low maintenance - think the most we have ever asked for is some ice and extra hangers. We enjoy good food - ran a restaurant in a past life - so have some understanding of the difficulties of pleasing everyone as well as the need for good service. It's not till stuff goes wrong that you really learn about the way a company looks after its customers.

Like you, we also know HAL is not perfect. We complain each time about the cutbacks in staff - especially the wine stewards in the main dining room. I didn't like the way that the 'no touch' rules were not in place for the first couple of days on our last cruises. (But having Captain Timmers for 28 days was brilliant.) We don't bother much with the shows - like a later relaxed dinner with good company. 2 hours is not a problem. We do enjoy listening to music and the quality certainly varies from ship to ship. We do appreciate the wonderful staff/crew. Oh - and the beautifully packaged free laundry simplifies packing.

This will be the most expensive cruise we have taken and I guess this puts pressure on the cruise line to show us what their reputation is based on. We certainly enjoyed Azamara - the Quest was the same size as the Nautica and I guess that will also be a factor in helping to form our opinions. Interestingly, the ship is not full, yet the prices have skyrocketed on the Australian site over the last couple of days.

Like you, I'm a glass half full person. I won't be attempting a 'live from' but will post when we return. Then I can get back into the planning for the Westerdam next year with you.

I hope the dogs were as happy to see you as you were to see them, and that you have an enjoyable Christmas and New Year with not too much snow. I've only experienced one real 'White Xmas' when we were living in Glasgow for a year. This time will be our first onboard experience - but in the tropics again.

Wendy

I have held off posting until I was sure I had all of the correct information and all loose ends were tied up.

It was the TA who made the mistake. She appears to have entered a room number when we made our first telephone enquiry. For some reason, this was not changed properly when we visited the agency and selected the room we wanted. 'Our' cabin must have just dropped out of the system at some stage and reverted to the one the TA originally entered. This was never picked up so all following documentation from the TA still showed the room we believed we had booked.

Many apologies to Oceania for thinking that they had changed the room. The reasons we were originally given (by the TA) were certainly misleading.

The agency seemed to think an apology was all that was required. DH told them fairly bluntly that they should be making amends as we had paid for the higher level cabin to secure the location we preferred. As a result, we have received very generous compensation which will certainly help to enhance the cruise.

Again - thank you to everyone who was so helpful and patient. Our excitement is back again and we are really looking forward to our first Oceania experience.

The silence is deafening. We waited patiently (?) all day yesterday but still have had no response.

I really do not think that Oceania had anything to do with this change. In fact, from the limited amount of information we have, I think there was a problem with this booking right from the start even though the paper work from day 1 paper work shows the original cabin. How it was changed/who selected the new number is still a mystery. I do think there was some sort of stuff up in the way the cabin was booked in the first place, but who was responsible will not clear until we receive the promised phone call.

As it seems more likely to have been human error somewhere down the chain rather than a deliberate move, I don't feel as resentful. I want to look forward to the cruise - not spend the remaining time trying to fix the impossible. I'm not trying to be a martyr at all - just being realistic. In fact, I felt rather ashamed when I saw pictures of refugees in Europe struggling through the rain and cold last night and I was stressing over a room change. First World Problems.

I'll update when we receive some answers.

After a long weekend of frustration, we were finally able to speak with someone from Oceania yesterday. They have assured us they did not make the cabin change and are working with the travel agency and the cruise wholesaler to find out what has happened.

We are very relieved that Oceania was not involved and I will start a new thread apologising to them when I have more concrete information. Our enthusiasm is returning!

On the other hand, there are no free cabins left at our level or higher and it is certainly not really fair to expect others who have booked in good faith to move. So we will make the best of the situation. It does, however, raise many questions as to the origin and accuracy of comments we were originally given regarding the change. Explanations are certainly needed.

Again - thank you to all who are providing me with so much information. I have some minutes for international calls on my phone so may be able to utilise those later on if need be.

In my frustrated state I did not pick up earlier that we are not on the same cruise as Kazu and roger b so will not have the alumni group to contend with. Kazu - your cabin is safe! We are on the Westerdam roll call group with you, not the Oceania one. We are on the 30 day Nautica voyage from Cape Town to Singapore. I'm still guessing it's all about cabins wanting to be together.

On a brighter note, we received our cruise booklet today. It is more impressive than any we've received from other lines!

Hopefully, we'll be able to get a bit more information/satisfaction tomorrow.

We've felt so supported by the Oceania CC community. Thank you for helping out a couple of newbies.

To be continued ....

Thank you very much to all those who have responded . Originally, I did not intend to post as I am not a whinger but when I read roger b’s similar situation, I felt it was important to show that he was not the only one affected. I do feel that this issue needs to be addressed by Oceania, especially as others are also reporting the same problem.

I know that all cruise lines have the right to change cabins, cancel cruises etc so I am not disputing this. I just feel that it would have helped if we had at least been informed of the change. I am normally a glass half full person, and if Oceania had approached us with a reason, I would not feel so antagonistic. We have close to 500 days cruising and this is the first time this has happened. It was not a last minute booking, so I cannot see why Oceania cannot reassign us our original cabin. If we can be moved, so can our “usurpers”.

I have the feeling our agent believes she has done all she can to redress this situation, but I have forwarded to her a link to this forum so that she can see your responses. In the mean time, we have sent a fairly terse email to Oceania in Australia addressing our concerns. Our Australian office is closed until Monday so I will not be able to report anything new until then. We are hoping to have a response to our original email to head office in the next few days.

Jay23 – as you said, it is not a great introduction to Oceania for us. First impressions always count. I also understand your comment about possible large groups.

I would appreciate it if someone could post a phone number/contact (and city) for Oceania in the USA so we can phone from here. When we try to do a search, it reverts to the Australian office. This would give us the chance to escalate this to a higher level.

Again, thank you all for your words of encouragement. We will not give up without a fight!

We have cruised with many lines, but this is our first cruise with Oceania. We were very careful about choosing a stateroom and in fact booked an A2 on deck 7 (even though we did not really need the extra benefits which come with Concierge class) as it was as close as possible to our ideal location. We booked many months ago when there was a wide choice of rooms available.

It was not a guarantee - the room number has been on both our travel agent documents and on the Oceania bookings page since we first booked.

I signed in yesterday to see if were possible to book specialty restaurants yet and discovered the room number has been changed. We have been away for 6 weeks so I have no idea when this may have happened. Certainly, neither we nor our travel agent was informed of this change. It is still an A2 - so not an upgrade.

Our agent has contacted Oceania who have apparently said some early bookers were moved to more 'desirable' cabins location wise. This seems very strange to me. The location is not one we would choose. We have been told this cannot be changed.

I have searched back through previous posts and have found very few instances of this happening. I know it is not the end of the world, but it is important when the cruise is 30 days.

We have emailed head office and expressed our dissatisfaction. I don't know what else we can do.

I know all you can give me is sympathy! However, I'm hoping someone from Oceania may also read this. We have been so looking forward to this cruise and are disappointed that that someone at Oceania can make such an arbitrary decision without considering the impact it may have on those who have been affected.

We were in Yangon earlier this year while on a HAL cruise. We had 2 nights in Yangon, and were part of a group who used Tour Mandalay for the 2.5 days. Our guide was Mae (not sure of spelling). She was absolutely wonderful - we were a group of about 12 and all agreed that she made our visit there a highlight. She has perfect English and a great sense of humour and made sure we saw as much as possible in our short time there. I think this company can arrange tours in other parts of the country - but definitely see if you can have Mae.

We have just had the same experience. A few days after making our booking, we found a substantial price drop and contacted the TA we had used. After many phone calls, we were finally told we could rebook - but we would have to pay a second deposit (the first could take 6 - 8 weeks to be refunded) and that we would lose the 123 package. This made no sense as the package is current till the end of February.

The FAQ on the 123 package on the Australian site does state that if you booked before the 123 promotion, you cannot rebook. This seems to indicate it is Company policy, rather than TA policy.

After much arguing, we have been able to rebook, paying a second deposit and keeping the 123 package.

It has certainly made us very wary of booking future cruises with Celebrity. Both HAL and Princess have offered better (though not equal) booking conditions for Australians. We can book HAL through a U.S. agent - not sure if Celebrity still allows this.

So Celebrity - if you are reading this - we cruise a number of times a year and would love to try more of your ships and itineraries, but at the moment, the hassles involving changes to a booking make it unlikely. It's up to you to make the conditions more fair if you want to attract new passengers.

Thanks again for all the responses. We'll need to do a bit more research - our credit card is linked to ff points - and has a very high limit before they are capped, so that has to be considered. We'll pay the deposit with the card, and hope that flights, hotels etc closer to the time may reach the minimum spend.

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately, CBA needs at least $1000 pp to be charged before the insurance applies. Normally this hasn't been a problem, but this is just a NZ cruise so we won't have the expensive airfares.

It appears difficult to avoid the charges - and the deposit is non refundable if we go with the TA. But it's cheaper than a new insurance policy.

We've normally cruised with HAL and book directly with the Aus office. There are no surcharges for using a credit card. We're now looking at a Celebrity cruise. The Celebrity office said they do not charge a fee but the money goes directly to a US account, so there could be international transaction charges.

I like to use a card for the travel insurance component. All the TA's we've contacted charge 2% for a card. I'd prefer to book directly even though it costs a bit more - at least the cancellation is more fair. We have the 28 degrees card, but obviously there is no insurance available with it. The airfares alone won't be sufficient to meet the criteria for the insurance.

Can anyone who has booked directly with Celebrity confirm that there are overseas transaction fees?