Doh15

Not sure there is any point in speculating while we wait for an answer (although I guess the question is whether Azamara’s understanding or ABTA’s controls) but bullet 1 doesn’t match my understanding of a FCC because I didn’t think you could convert a FCC to cash?

So glad they got off. Feel terrible for the people stuck on cruise ships in/near Miami. Seems Coast Guard might not be letting any more dock?

On 3/7/2020 at 8:38 AM, ptrpanpens said:

Just heard from a friend who said her credit was short about $368.00+ More or less so she has asked her travel agent to get clarification. I remember reading somewhere that passengers were still responsible for port fees and taxes so maybe this odd amount has something to do with that or with travel agent cancellation fees. Has anyone who cancelled had this same experience?

 

She did cancel in the 50% window and got half her deposit back in cash, contrary to what she was first told by an Azamara agent, who said it would all be on a FCC.

 

Would be nice if all this would be fully and clearly explained up front or in a QAndA.

I canceled before 120 days and a full refund of my final payment, but no refund of my deposit, posted to my credit card around 9 days later (in the US so my deposit was $1100 and my cancellation fee should have been just $150). 
 

I called back and it took about an hour but Azamara is now refunding me the additional $950. The Azamara person was very helpful and pleasant— it did not take any arguing from me just time for her to look at my file and talk to various departments while I waited on hold. As part of that discussion she confirmed that passengers who cancel should get port fees and taxes back, but apparently that was a big chunk of my missing refund. 

My *guess* is that when they rolled it out for people denied boarding they said “refund” and as the problem became bigger and the policy expanded to cover more people that got changed to “compensation”. 
 

But given the latest news about how the virus won’t even peak in the US/UK until May or June I don’t see how the cruise happens as scheduled. 

I thought people who were denied boarding for medical reasons would get full refunds not FCCs?
 

If so (I can’t find the policy on the website because it seems to have been superceded by the pause in operations) it would seem odd that people who couldn’t get a dr’s letter would be treated worse, but it may be that they are losing so much cash they have to be less generous. 
 

In any case, I think it’s a better than 50% chance, probably much better, that your cruise on 4/26 cancels — China which is past the worst of it is now imposing controls on visitors so they don’t bring it back— so I would just wait (unless you think things will get so bad so quickly that they might go into receivership). 
 

I am still waiting on a refund for a cruise that was cancelled by a TA  over a week ago— have others had any delays getting cash refunds?
 

Wow — I appreciate you posting that and I am not at all blaming the messenger— but that seems incredibly insufficient to the realities of the situation and scale of the problem.  I am shocked Azamara can’t do better than that (the way most other cruises companies have). 

Windstar has also canceled all cruises til May. 

My point is that the State Department recently issued a “global level 3 health advisory” which they seem to view as being a level 3 advisory for every country in the world

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/travel-advisory-alert-global-level-3-health-advisory-issue.html

It seems to me if you read both the State Dept advisory and the Windstar policy to their letter then WS ships will not visit any non-US ports and will not allow anyone on board who has been outside the US in the previous 30 days. 

So the US State Dept has just issued a “global” level 3 advisory— basically saying Americans shouldn’t travel anywhere internationally. 
 

And Windstar has said they will not sail to any port under a level 3 advisory, nor allow anyone on board who has been in a country subject to a level 3 advisory in the last 30 days. 
 

should make for some interesting discussions

Well the review was quite amusing so I can only imagine what it would have been like in person! Cheers

I came across a review recently that had quite a lot to say about the trivia contests— was eye opening for me. 

1 hour ago, ltcTN said:

Yes Really! I agree, I hope no one gets the virus, whether it be Covid-19 or any of the other 6000 virus strains out there! But there is no head in the sand here. Do your research from something besides the media. Yes, the Italian government did exactly that, knee jerk reaction based upon media hype. By the way, wash your hands and respect personal space and happy cruising!

 

 It amazes me that you think you can make that judgment apparently from 3,000 miles away with no first hand knowledge. 
 

I too don’t have first hand knowledge but I have seen the reported increases in infections and the stories of people dying in hospitals waiting to be seen and it would never occur to me that I know better than the infectious disease specialists and  Italian government. 
 

I just hope you aren’t one of those people who gets asked to self-quaratine for a week or two and ignores it. 

Nothing in the link you posted supports what you posted as far as general policies for refunds for cruises that haven’t been canceled. 
 

I think you are either comparing things that aren’t comparable— like what happens when a cruise has been canceled vs when it hasn’t— or else just making things up. 

I am not trying to say Azamara has covered itself in glory— there’s plenty to complain about, including whether they should be canceling more cruises— but if you think they should generally give refunds for cruises that haven’t been canceled then I don’t see any evidence that they are treating customers worse than other lines. 

I read the cruise critic article posted here
 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5151/

and I don’t see any cruise lines offering full refunds in place of FCCs. 
 

I have not parsed it carefully but it seems Azamara’s policy is very comparable to others’ policies— for example it seems almost identical to Celebrity’s.
 

What am I missing/where are you seeing these better policies?

I don’t see what‘s funny about any country trying to minimize the spread of the virus into that country. 

We are having a hard time too— trying to decide if canceling now and rebooking if things look better would be smarter than taking the chance of having a large FCC we have to burn. 

That’s my understanding. Per the other thread even people in the window to only get 25% back as a refund are getting 25% cash back and 75% FCC. 
 

Are you planning on cancelling? I am also coming up on a deadline for a near full refund on a July Norway cruise and trying to decide what to do (made harder because it would be harder for us to go next year, so an FCC is less useful but also I’ll be more disappointed to cancel for this year). 

We can still get a full refund on our scandinavia cruise for the next day or two, or wait and see and get a FCC up to 2 days in advance. 
 

I am struggling with what to do because for various reasons a FCC might be difficult to use next year, and the possibility of quarantine either during the cruise or after arrival home bothers me,  but still leaning towards wait and see (partly because we might have a hard time taking this trip next year). 

One of the FAQs posted on a different RCCI website says that you can’t transfer perks but you may be eligible for perks on the new booking— not sure how helpful that is or if it even applies to Azamara. 
 

I assume that people who booked through a travel agent should call their agent to cancel under this policy but the way it’s all written to say travelers must contact Azamara makes me wonder a bit about that. 

13 minutes ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

Denise, where is this information? It is not in yesterday's Travel Advisory.

We are due to sail on 17 march and have not received any such notification.

Trish

There was a press announcement this morning--

https://www.morningstar.com/news/pr-newswire/20200306fl43077/royal-caribbean-group-adopts-cruise-with-confidence-policy-allowing-cancellations-up-to-48-hours-before-sailing

The sister cruise lines appear to have FAQs up about "Cruise with Confidence" (there is more info and links in the coronavirus thread) but Azamara's website doesn't quite seem to have it yet.  

7 minutes ago, ptrpanpens said:

they will cancel choice air and waive the fees. (See my post above). This is from someone who just cancelled in the 50% window.

Thanks!

 Have you decided what you are going to do for that Baltic cruise?

9 minutes ago, garlinn said:

If you look at Celebrity's FAQ it might clarify it.

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/cruise-with-confidence

Interesting, thanks.  I read that as saying they will help you change your Choice Air flight with no change fee.
 

But to me that sound like it would only help if I knew at the time of cancellation what flight I wanted to rebook to?

 If I cancel a July cruise/flight I will get an FCC good for 18 months, but do I need to rebook my flight immediately or will they also give me a credit for the cost of my flight that is good for 18 months?

36 minutes ago, ptrpanpens said:

Clearly includes Azamara! Thanks for the added peace of mind!

Does any one know if this includes the cost of air booked through Azamara?

This is my question as well. Here is a FAQ from Royal Caribbean but it doesn’t cover that—

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/topics/cruise-with-confidence

I heard RCCI has scheduled a travel partner webcast which hopefully will roll out a reasonable policy?