MarkWiltonM

I have to admit I've been pretty depressed not being able to look forward to my next cruise. I have two scheduled, in Jan. 2021 and Jan. 2022, but I'm not optimistic I'll be able to go on either. I do not believe cruising is likely to be viable for a lot of us for a long time.  As you probably know, even when social distancing measures are slowly rolled back, most epidemiologists believe there will be numerous waves of the virus resurfacing, with new social distancing measures reintroduced as needed.  This is expected to go on until there is a widely available vaccine.  (I read recently that the fastest vaccine developed so far was four years, for mumps.)  My greatest concern, even if I were to learn that I have immunity to the virus, is that if I am on a cruise and someone develops symptoms that suggest COVID-19, we could be stranded at sea just as several ships were recently when denied access to ports to disembark passengers.  At the very least, cruise lines will have to have the ability to test quickly and accurately, and they will have to have arrangements already in place with countries on how to handle disembarkations when there are COVID-19 cases on board. I think it's going to be a long, slow process for cruise lines, with passengers and crew from many different countries on every ship, to work out these arrangements with all the various countries where they have ports of call. And few of us will be willing to sail if a wonderful two-week cruise could possibly turn into a four-week or longer imprisonment with no means of escape. This is completely separate from whatever dangers there may be of contracting the virus on board. I hope I'm wrong!

8 minutes ago, jelayne said:

It is the Unlimited package. 

Thank you, but both packages are "unlimited."  To be more specific, when you buy internet, you choose either the more expensive Xcelerate Internet Package, which has higher speeds and allows streaming video on Netflix, video calling via Skyping/FaceTime, etc. When you choose the less expensive Surf Internet package, Celebrity says, "This package does not have the ability to stream videos, send or receive photos, and does not include VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology such as FaceTime or Skype."

I paid for the Surf package on a recent cruise on Silhouette and it was very slow even though I mostly check email and read news online. But and I couldn't even load Instagram.

I did not select "High-Speed Internet" as a perk previously, and Celebrity doesn't state whether this perk is for the Xcelerate or the Surf package.  

Does anyone know?

If I choose "High-Speed Internet for 2" as one of my perks, will I get the Surf or the Stream package? 

I know how you feel and I won't book again either until I get my refund.  But I suspect they are refunding slowly because they just don't have all the cash they would need to refund everyone immediately.  They have lines of credit that they have to access and draw down. It's pretty sad. If this situation drags on the rest of the year and into next year they are in real trouble. 

I found Surf to be much slower than the one-speed internet package I purchase on Holland-America.  With Surf, I was able to email, use WhatsApp for texting, and WiFi calling worked for texting/calling my spouse on the ship, but I couldn't use Instagram. It was pretty disappointing. 

11 hours ago, Schmoe38 said:

Cruise taxes

and fees will be refunded automatically to your original form of payment within at least 45 days of cancellation.

Not sure if this was deliberately ambiguous but "within at least" doesn't make any sense.  It's either within 45 days of  cancellation or it's not.  Hopefully she meant "no more than 45 days from cancellation." If she meant at least 45 days from cancellation, there's no end date on when you may receive the refund.  

Remember the days when the biggest thing we had to gripe about was the implementation of a drinks package surcharge?  Our complaints worked and that was quickly rescinded.

The cruise lines' businesses are being absolutely crushed.  None of them know when they will be able to begin sailing again or what kind of demand there will be.  They will have to make huge operational changes that complicates staffing and supply chain management, and they have no idea what that will even look like so it's impossible to plan. They have an enormous cash crunch now with massive cancellations and no revenue coming in, which is why they are being so slow in refunds.  I doubt they are sitting on piles of cash.  They are probably refunding as much and as quickly as possible.

Anyone booking a new cruise should probably make sure they have a refundable deposit and, if possible, buy insurance from a reputable insurer (not through the cruise line) that covers financial default.

I have not canceled my Jan. 2021 cruise but I find it very unlikely I'll be able to go on that cruise absent a discovery of a miracle cure for COVID-19.  There certainly won't be a vaccine by then.  I am more hopeful for my 2022 booking, but even that is an unknown.  

6 hours ago, HS2BS said:

The people employed by the cruise lines, like any other business employees do pay “their taxes”, but  corporate taxes on the billions of dollars earned from the cruising community are not paid here. Cruise lines register in the country that they get the best deal on their foreign earnings.

Ever time anyone cruises they pay the fees and taxes of that port - look at your billing from any cruise line. Line one has the cruise fare and then taxes and fees are added to your cruise on subsequent lines before the total. These fees are the local docking, taxes and other fees that get passed along to us, the cruiser.

 

Hal

How is this any different from large, "U.S." corporations like Google and Apple opening large hubs in cities such as Dublin that court them with favorable tax treatment?  The cruise industry is being picked on unfairly.  Cruise ships are large floating hotels with restaurants and entertainment venues.  Why not pick on Las Vegas? Disney World? Airlines?  Ever heard of Legionnaire's disease?  It can contaminate hot water tanks, hot tubs, and cooling towers of large air conditioners. It's often deadly and when it strikes it's usually a hotel.   

On 4/7/2020 at 1:36 PM, Kartgv said:

We had our first HAL experience last year after cruising mostly with Celebrity and Princess for over 30 years.  I'll now find it difficult to go back to unstaffed buffets.   For the first couple of days I hated the HAL buffet - couldn't quite figure out where to enter lines, disliked telling someone what I wanted instead of just reaching for myself, etc.   However, I soon reversed my opinion and loved it.  

 

First of all we really appreciated knowing we weren't handling utensils that had been already handled by dozens of others, many with questionable manners and common sense.   The staff we had always honored any requests for 'more' or 'just a little', many got to recognize us and remember our choices.    The salad bar was amazing, and the always hot and fresh breakfast items much better than the usual fare on Celebrity and Princess.   It didn't seem to take much longer to get through the lines and our per diem cost was lower than on the Solstice several months later.   What Celebrity and Princess do with their buffets when (if?) they return to business will definitely influence my future bookings.  

I agree completely.  We sailed on Celebrity for years and then recently did two years on HAL Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam and we loved the food and service in the buffet.  We never waited long to be served.  Perhaps it is more cafeteria than buffet but the food is fresher and having crew serve you is more sanitary.  The only downside is the extremely heavy, large chairs in the buffet that are difficult to move, and the buffet seating is quite crowded. But the quality of the food is superior to Celebrity in most respects. That said, we were back on Celebrity (Silhouette) this year and after making the adjustment to the differences in the buffet and food quality over a couple of days we still love the Solstice-class ships, and especially, Cafe al Bacio.

Sorry to hear that.  We are scheduled to go to the ABC islands and Cartagena on the Reflection on Jan. 4, 2021.  We haven't canceled yet, but I doubt we will go unless, as someone mentioned, we discover we were already exposed and have immunity.  It is unlikely that there will be a vaccine sooner than mid- to late 2021.  They have to develop it, test it, and then manufacture billions of doses.  (If anyone tried to get the new shingles vaccine when it first came out, you know how long the wait can be.) 

I believe there will be changes in the buffet to minimize the use of shared utensils (as is already being done on HAL).  But any other social distancing methods would be ineffective on a cruise ship, as other posters have mentioned.  Which means, as already said, a lot of cruisers will not be on ships until there's a vaccine.  Unfortunately, that may be too long for some of the cruise operators to survive.  Cruise Industry News reported today that lay ups may cost the cruise industry a billion dollars just for April.  https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22749-april-lay-ups-could-cost-cruise-operators-1-billion.html 

I called yesterday and only had to wait about five minutes to get through.  Not sure if I got lucky or it's getting easier now.

I just read that RCL is planning to use some of its ships (including Celebrity) to get crew members home.  They will also fly some crew members home.  Meanwhile, I know that there are some crew members/entertainers on the Silhouette who are self-isolating in guest cabins.  I'm not sure if that is everyone, or if it's because those crew members have become symptomatic and/or tested positive for coronavirus, or what. For the first couple of weeks after the Silhouette disembarked its last guests, at least most of the crew and entertainers were mingling onboard and appearing to have a great time.  I'm guessing there must have been some asymptomatic carriers of the virus who have since infected other crew members.  Anyone else have more info on the crew of Silhouette or other Celebrity ships?

I have a happy update on this issue.  I called Celebrity to cancel my Jan. 2021 cruise because I had paid in full and my travel insurance for this particular cruise doesn't cover financial default of the cruise line.  The CFP I spoke to said, "What if I could get you a refund for everything you've paid except the $900 deposit?"  (Of course this is exactly what I had wanted but wasn't even going to ask because it seemed so unlikely.)  I said, "YES!"  He spoke with his "team" and confirmed they could process that refund.  He said it might come back to my card in "chunks" rather than one lump sum but I should see it in 14 to 30 days.  Unfortunately, he said he couldn't email me an invoice/updated booking confirmation until the refund is processed.  So I have nothing in writing about this call/arrangement, but he did say the call was recorded.  I was impressed with this guy's energy and competence (Daniel F. in the service department.) Now let's see if/when I actually get the refund.  But I have until Oct. 6 to call again and cancel if necessary prior to my final payment, and I think RCC/Celebrity has secured enough credit to last at least a year or more no matter how bad things get. At any rate, if this refund goes through my maximum loss is now $900 instead of almost $5,000.  

Thank you.

HAL was ahead of the curve with their buffets in the new Pinnacle class ships. There are almost no self-serve options except desserts, which are put out on individual plates so people only touch the plate they pick up (hopefully).  We were on Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam in 2018/2019 (a break from Celebrity before we sailed on Silhouette in Feb/March this year) and were very impressed with the buffets on HAL.  (Great food!) On the Silhouette in Feb/March it felt icky sharing the serving utensils with everyone.  It's like shaking hands with ALL of your fellow passengers.  And we actually love eating in the buffets.  But to be safe, you would have to wash your hands before entering the buffet and then wash your hands again after you sit down and before you use your silverware.  Of course by then your food would be cold...   BTW, I have heard that while hand sanitizer is effective against COVID-19 and some other viruses, it is not effective against norovirus, so washing hands is a must. 

I have a NRD of $900 on a Jan. 2021 cruise on Reflection.  The fine print says if I cancel I will only forfeit $100 pp ($200 total) if I re-book a cruise.  Does anyone know how long I would have to re-book after cancelling the currently booked cruise, or if there is a limit on how far out the sailing date can be for a re-booked cruise?  For example, if I canceled now (April 2020) could I re-book an April 2022 cruise?  

3 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

First of all, unless you purchase cancel for any reason trip insurance not sure that cruise line bankruptcy would be a problem with the insurance paying off.  I strongly suspect that bankruptcy would be covered, however, if you purchase trip insurance, check the terms first.

 

I believe that we will discover this year if the cruise lines are in jeopardy of bankruptcy.  Even if they do go bankrupt, it is likely that it would be a reorganization and not total collapse of the business.

 

If you booked with Celebrity, the deposit is usually $600 pp, so the insurance would not be terribly expensive in any event.

I have two cruises booked and bought insurance for both, not through the cruise line.  The insurance for the first cruise in January 2021 unfortunately does not cover financial default of the cruise line.  The insurance I bought for the second cruise in January 2022 does cover financial default.  Usually, to get financial default coverage, you have to buy the insurance within 14 days of making your initial payment, and it has a 14-day exclusion period (meaning you are covered if the cruise line doesn't become insolvent within 14 days of you purchasing the insurance).  This means you can't retroactively go and buy insurance with financial default coverage now if your deposit was paid more than 14 days ago. 

I checked online yesterday and the only plans that were still available with financial default coverage all required that you purchase the insurance within 14 days of your initial trip payment.

I've never thought about financial default before when purchasing travel insurance, but I certainly will now.

This issue is of interest to me because I paid in full for the January 2021 cruise.  I just had some extra cash and figured I'd go ahead and pay for the cruise and not worry about a payment later, knowing I could always get the money back before the final payment date (ha!).  That was, of course, pre-COVID-19. I haven't canceled the January 2021 cruise yet to get my money back, but I'm probably going to--reluctantly because I want to go on that cruise badly, though realistically I know there won't be a vaccine by then.  On the other hand, if my spouse and I discover that we were exposed to the virus and have immunity, once the blood tests for that come out in a few months, we could go without fear of getting the virus or of giving it to anyone. If we were exposed we are completely asymptomatic, but I have heard reports that scientists think up to 25 percent of people with the virus may be asymptomatic, which could be why it is so incredibly infectious.  (The idea that you are not carrying the virus if you don't have symptoms has been proven to be completely fallacious.)

On 3/30/2020 at 10:59 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

Just remember you can always "refare" your NRD booking before the final payment due date if it makes economical sense to do so. We refare our NRD bookings all the time. You just can't change the ship or the cruise date of the NRD booking as you can with a RD booking.

Good info. Thanks.

On 3/25/2020 at 7:15 PM, ravinblue said:

I'm not an epidemiologist, but I do have some experience with infectious diseases having practiced pediatrics for 39 years. If you are asking when the cruise companies and/or the politicians say it will be OK to cruise, then my guess is as good as anyone else's. 

If you are asking when I will cruise again, it will be when I am immune to this virus, either by a vaccine or from getting the disease and surviving. Now, that may change if there are good treatments discovered or if the virus miraculously disappears with warm weather or something, but I am not hopeful for either of those scenarios.

Cruise ships have always been a great incubator for germs, but when the major risk was catching a cold or intestinal virus, the risk was worth it to me. But, the fatality rate for this disease is too high. 

I agree. Hopefully, there will be antigen and antibody blood tests within a few months.  Then we will know who currently has the virus and may be infectious, who has had it and has antibodies (whether they were symptomatic or not), and who is still susceptible to infection. I also (and regrettably) will not cruise until I have evidence that I was exposed and have antibodies or I have been immunized.  I hope it may only be six to eight months for the antigen/antibody blood tests to be widely available. But a vaccine may not be available before fall 2021. I will be sad if I have to cancel my January 2020 cruise on Reflection, but if I have to I have to. I don't have another cruise booked until Jan. 2022.  I feel positive about that one! 

Apart from the cruise industry, the antibody tests will be essential so that those who are immune can get back to work. The longer it takes for those tests to be available the more damage to the global economy. 

We have booked a Jan. 2021 cruise on Celebrity Reflection, and I paid the full amount rather than just the $900 deposit.  The full amount was not due until October 2020.  I'm wondering if Celebrity will, at my request, refund everything to my credit card except the $900 deposit so I can get that cash back until I have to decide in October whether to sail or cancel. I assume the phone lines are very busy so I thought if someone has done something like this before I'd save myself and Celebrity a phone call.  I booked directly through Celebrity.  A second question would be if Celebrity were to file for bankruptcy (unlikely, I know) and I subsequently canceled, would I be able to get a refund on my credit card even if the cruise line was insolvent.  This is probably more of question regarding credit card policies in the event you have paid for a service you aren't receiving than a Celebrity question.

We are booked on the Reflection in Jan 2021, and the Apex in Jan 2022.  Even if the Jan 2021 cruise happens, I'm not sure we'll feel comfortable taking it.  There won't be a vaccine by then.  Looking ahead to Jan 2022 and that seems like such a long time away!

I have also been annoyed by some of the recent criticisms of the cruise industry.  In particular, the comedian/satirist Bill Maher basically thinks cruises should be outlawed.  I read his commentary on this and it was filled with inaccuracies.  Despite the valid environmental concerns and some blatant violations of environmental regulations (looking at you, Carnival Corp.), it has been my experience that most of the people I know who "hate" cruising have never been on one.  I have another friend who is quite the snob who went on her first cruise last year on Celebrity around the Mediterranean with her adult son and his family and admitted upon her return that she had a great time. But now she's back to saying she doesn't "get" cruising.

But I don't really care. To each his/her/their own.

That said, I'm actually not sure when I will feel comfortable getting back on a cruise ship because of COVID-19 (or a plane, hotel room, crowded gathering of any kind).  I may have to wait until there's a vaccine because of my age (63) and some immune-suppressing medications I take for inflammatory arthritis.  We are booked on the Reflection next January for an 11-night cruise to the ABC islands and Cartagena, and while I'm not canceling yet I am just not sure we'll be able to risk a cruise with several thousand guests and crew from around the world in nine months.  I hope I have reason to change my mind before the October cancellation date but a lot of medical experts say we are looking at 18 months before everyone can safely stop social distancing.  We are also booked on the Apex in January 2022.  Looking forward to that! But forlorn about possibly not cruising sooner. At least we got in a fantastic cruise on the Silhouette in Feb/March, just before the cruise lines were shut down.  And we survived! 

I was impressed that Celebrity/RCC went ahead and announced further cancellations. It's an extremely fluid (no pun intended) situation so it's impossible to know if anyone will be sailing in May or June or even by the fall, but at least they aren't waiting until the last minute.  We are in the US, but in the UK they have advised anyone over 65 or in a high-risk group based on medical conditions to shelter at home for 12 weeks. That is exactly what we plan to do.  We aren't quite in that age group yet but I do take immune-suppressing medications for psoriatic arthritis. We aren't even going to the store now, and our physicians are setting up telemedicine appointments or phone calls so patients with routine checkups don't have to go to the physician's office. We are fortunate that our employers have allowed us to work from home, and we are having food delivered from our local grocery store by Shipt.  We were on the Silhouette Feb. 23 - March 6 and do not appear to have gotten infected on the cruise or at home in Florida (as far as we know; asymptomatic if we were).  We don't have another cruise scheduled until Jan. 2021, on the Reflection to the ABC Islands and Cartagena. I really hope COVID-19 is old news by then.  Sympathies for all of you with more immediate cruises scheduled that have been canceled or are in limbo.  The cruise industry is taking such a scolding in the media, but I can't wait for my next cruise, whenever that is!

We dropped off some friends at the terminal for the March 13 Celebrity Equinox sailing out of Port Everglades.  I guess they were one of the last cruises out.  I hope they are allowed back home on March 23.  We were on the Feb. 23 - March 6 Silhouette cruise.  Had a great time but just learned about the passenger on our sailing with COVID-19.