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Marella Discovery 2 Pride of Panama 7 April 20


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  • 5 weeks later...

The Panama Canal cannot be done independently either by boat or glass topped train and as they are extremely popular I would recommend booking the trips on line. If they are sold out on line now some places will have been held back for booking on the ship DO this as soon as you embark

 

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We're on this cruise too, flying from Manchester, plus the week afterwards going to Belize, Guatemala etc (can't remember what that one is called). I've booked lots of excursions for week 1 - including the Panama Canal - and week 2 we intend to be very lazy! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The one advantage of TUI Marella  cruises is that all passengers are British (except you Canadians flying into Montego Bay) No other passengers are picked up at other ports having flown in from any where in the world All have been flown from a UK airport with TUI - only a few will have made their own flight arrangements and booked a cruise only.

For this reason I believe that's why there have been no cases of Coronovirus on board Discovery 1 which has been sailing in the Far East or any of the others in the fleet

My sister is due to join Explorer 2 next week in Barbados and she's happy to go but she has no underlying health problems and is 68

The problem is the advice given by Canadian Health Authorities says you will have to be quarantined on your return doesn't it? Can you do this?

 

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5 hours ago, meldxb_2000 said:

We are booked for this, coming from Toronto. Still contemplating whether to go or not due to advisory given by the Canadian govt to avoid all cruise ship vacations

Meldxb

we are out of Halifax and my wife is concerned. The government has not yet issued an advisory against cruises or against any part of our itinerary. It’s was only from the public health officer Dr. Tam. 

a level 3 or 4 travel advisory from the government( dept of foreign affairs). Would be a definite warning against travel. 
Vitalsign makes a good point, however we must all use our own judgement based on individual circumstances. 
my wife is going to speak with her doctor this week and get some advice. She may decide not to go. I will miss her. 
neither TUI o or Sunwing are currently offering any options.
 

if you go to the Sunwing site there is a link to the travel advisory. 

 

28 days to go. Whoo Hoo!

 

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my wife is going to speak with her doctor this week and get some advice. She may decide not to go. I will miss her. 

28 days to go. Whoo Hoo!

 

love your humour!!!

Seriously I do hope you can both go and you have a wonderful cruise and stay healthy

ive done this cruise 3 times and loved it

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Thanks for clarifying Papatroll, I did not know that there are levels of advisories. I spoke to my travel agent with who I booked this Sunwing package back in Oct 2019 and said things are constantly evolving and to wait and watch. Iam not afraid to be on the cruise but its the inconvenience of being imprisoned for 14 days quarantine is the scary part.

Lets hope things dont get worse in 28 days

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15 hours ago, Papatroll said:

Meldxb

we are out of Halifax and my wife is concerned. The government has not yet issued an advisory against cruises or against any part of our itinerary. It’s was only from the public health officer Dr. Tam. 

a level 3 or 4 travel advisory from the government( dept of foreign affairs). Would be a definite warning against travel. 
Vitalsign makes a good point, however we must all use our own judgement based on individual circumstances. 
my wife is going to speak with her doctor this week and get some advice. She may decide not to go. I will miss her. 
neither TUI o or Sunwing are currently offering any options.
 

if you go to the Sunwing site there is a link to the travel advisory. 

 

28 days to go. Whoo Hoo!

 

 

There was a Canadian government advisory issued against all cruise travel on March 9. If you follow the link from the Sunwing site on advisories - it is as the top of that page.

 

Concern for us is not actually catching the virus - but the risk of being quarantined (14 days on return if ANYONE on the cruise is diagnosed) and now Canada will no longer be responsible to repatriate if you get stuck somewhere.

 

Transat revised their policies to allow for rebooking affected cruise holidays after the government advisory came out, just waiting for Sunwing to do the same.....

Edited by rodndonna
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I spoke with the public health Canada and they said that the advisory is a 'Recommendation' and NOT an outright ban on travel and the decision to travel will rest on the individual. Just as @rodndonna mentioned they also reiterated that the government will not be responsible for repatriation while on the cruise trip and you WILL be subject to 14 day quarantine if an outbreak is reported. Right now we are at the Airline and cruise line operators mercy and is a situation that may change as it evolves. 

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UPDATE TODAY: Some good news for Canadians booked with Sunwing.

They will apply Sunwing’s Future Cruise Credit Policy March 17 – April 14, 2020

 

Marella Cruises: Cancel your Sunwing cruise vacation package 48 hours prior to departure and receive Sunwing’s future cruise travel voucher, valid for any Marella Cruise future cruise booking with Sunwing Vacations, departing on or before April 13, 2021.
 
Cancellations will be allowed for applicable sailing dates from March 17 – April 14, 2020
Sunwing Vacations will issue Sunwing Future Cruise Certificates (equal to the value of their booking) to customers wanting to cancel during this time frame.
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22 minutes ago, meldxb_2000 said:

UPDATE TODAY: Some good news for Canadians booked with Sunwing.

They will apply Sunwing’s Future Cruise Credit Policy March 17 – April 14, 2020

 

Marella Cruises: Cancel your Sunwing cruise vacation package 48 hours prior to departure and receive Sunwing’s future cruise travel voucher, valid for any Marella Cruise future cruise booking with Sunwing Vacations, departing on or before April 13, 2021.
 
Cancellations will be allowed for applicable sailing dates from March 17 – April 14, 2020
Sunwing Vacations will issue Sunwing Future Cruise Certificates (equal to the value of their booking) to customers wanting to cancel during this time frame.

 

 

WOOOOOHHHHOOOOOOO (0:

 

Where did you hear/read this?

Edited by rodndonna
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1 hour ago, rodndonna said:

 

 

WOOOOOHHHHOOOOOOO (0:

 

Where did you hear/read this?

From my travel agent, they have not updated the website as yet.

So they offered 25% refund and 75% future cruise credit (redeemable with Marella only).

Considering we have 1 year to think about it I grabbed this option.

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14 minutes ago, meldxb_2000 said:

From my travel agent, they have not updated the website as yet.

So they offered 25% refund and 75% future cruise credit (redeemable with Marella only).

Considering we have 1 year to think about it I grabbed this option.

 

Awesome - thanks for the info - we'll be grabbing it as well. 

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23 minutes ago, meldxb_2000 said:

From my travel agent, they have not updated the website as yet.

So they offered 25% refund and 75% future cruise credit (redeemable with Marella only).

Considering we have 1 year to think about it I grabbed this option.

That’s better than nothing I guess. However I will fight for a full refund. The cost of cruise will definitely be higher later as well as the cost of airfare as companies try to recoup their losses. 
 

I would consider a replacement cruise with similar itinerary at a later date as well as an air voucher for a free flight. 
 

don’t jump on the offer too quickly, you may be sorry. 
 

scenario

booked a cruise and paid 2000.00. Trip was cancelled and given a cruise voucher value of 2000.00. 8 months later booked the same cruise and tried to use my certificate only to find out that the new price was 3000.  
no refund option. 
 

I would need a guarantee that I could book the same trip without extra cost. 
 

also note. If you accept this offer, any travel insurance coverage you may have will not apply. 
 

things to think about

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4 minutes ago, Papatroll said:

That’s better than nothing I guess. However I will fight for a full refund. The cost of cruise will definitely be higher later as well as the cost of airfare as companies try to recoup their losses. 
 

I would consider a replacement cruise with similar itinerary at a later date as well as an air voucher for a free flight. 
 

don’t jump on the offer too quickly, you may be sorry. 
 

scenario

booked a cruise and paid 2000.00. Trip was cancelled and given a cruise voucher value of 2000.00. 8 months later booked the same cruise and tried to use my certificate only to find out that the new price was 3000.  
no refund option. 
 

I would need a guarantee that I could book the same trip without extra cost. 
 

also note. If you accept this offer, any travel insurance coverage you may have will not apply. 
 

things to think about

 

Keep in mind at this point there is no obligation on their part to offer anything (according to TICO). If they cancel, we are entitled to full refund. At this point though, anything we are offered is just goodwill on their part.

 

 

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2 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

Keep in mind at this point there is no obligation on their part to offer anything (according to TICO). If they cancel, we are entitled to full refund. At this point though, anything we are offered is just goodwill on their part.

 

 

Quite true. 
if everyone accepts this offer now, then they are off the hook to us should they need to cancel the entire trip. 
 

wonder what the UK people are hearing

 

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I agree with rodndonna, Sunwing is following what the other airlines and cruises are offering. At this stage I don't have the patience to fight over it. I am glad I did not lose money, many other folks cancelled early and lost everything but they chose safety over the risk.

Once the dust settles will see what happens. This situation may change the cruising industry in future so who knows the future. Hopefully things return to normal in 1 year.

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I agree. I think that we have pretty much decided to cancel. However I also think we will wait for a while before making the final commitment. 
we are travelling for the next while in Ontario (probably more risky  than the cruise) 
will make the final decision upon our return 

 

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So Sunwing has decided to add a 100$ admin fee to change prior bookings. This was not there a few days ago when I cancelled. 

 

Customers who booked their vacation prior to March 4, 2020 and did not purchase travel insurance or a Sunwing Worry Free Cancellation Waiver can cancel and receive a future travel voucher in the value of the original package price paid. This policy applies to customers who booked travel for departures between March 14, 2020 and April 30, 2020. Vouchers can be redeemed against future travel for departures up to and including March 31, 2021. All cancellations are subject to an administration fee of $100 per person, which will be collected at the time of cancellation.

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When you cancelled did you get a full refund or did you get their 25% plus the 75% voucher. 
 

I have still not cancelled as I am waiting for either the government to impose a travel restriction or Marella to cancel the trip. 
Marella  has cancelled all cruises up to March 28 which entitles people to a total refund. 
 

Sunwing/Marella is just stalling hoping every one will bail out early.. some cruise companies have already announced a 125% future cruise certificate with the option of taking 100% refund. 
 

the UK is now getting in,on the travel restrictions so I believe that Marella will soon have to cancel the trip. 
 

I did not purchase the Sunwing cancellation package nor did I get third party trip cancellation. With my our BlueCross plus credit card coverage we were totally covered. 
EXCEPT for global pandemic. 
 

Sunwing promotes its customer service. Let’s see how they respond to this. 

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