Seabourn and the current issues surrounding the Corona Virus

[ab21au]

6 hours ago, zimflyer said:

It occurs to me that cruise lines are doing themselves a lot of damage

You have to remember that for everyone that leaves SB for another line, the guest not happy with the other line will come to SB. So they probably do not care because they know it will be reciprocated.

[zimflyer]

1 hour ago, ab21au said:

You have to remember that for everyone that leaves SB for another line, the guest not happy with the other line will come to SB. So they probably do not care because they know it will be reciprocated.

I am talking about cruising per se, why book and risk your trip or your money or virus in other countries or at sea, or...

 

No freedom to cancel within terms for refund, means no desire to book...

 

There's  a lot of maybes out there, I am personally happier to look at future land stay trips with weekly city stays in terrific hotels... much less risk.

[Rambo_Trout]

I sent a non-hostile e-mail to Seabourn on Friday, enquiring whether they thought that neglecting their clients would make them more or less likely to rebook with them and asking them if they could put a date on our refund.

 

This was their reply that came back within 24 hours, (note the mix of fonts):-

 

Dear Mr Moore,      

Thank you for your correspondence with Seabourn.

I am very sorry that you feel that there has been a lack of communication from us during this time, I can assure you that we have been in contact with your agent in regards to any relevant updates that require your immediate attention. At this time we are working tirelessly to action refunds and create future cruise credits for our guests, as well as preparing and planning for our fleet to resume normal operations in the future. You are able to find all of the latest information and updates on our website via this link https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/news.html 

As you have booked with a travel agent, I will need to direct you to them with any questions in relation to a refund as this will be managed by your agent.

I can confirm that we have not changed our policy in relation to shareholder benefits and that we are still offering onboard credit to shareholders providing the required documents are submitted to us and the relevant criteria are met.

If you have any further enquiries or questions please do not hesitate to email us at enquiries@seabourn.co.uk or call us on 0344 338 8615.

Kind regards,

Ben

Seabourn UK

[zimflyer]

1 hour ago, Rambo_Trout said:

I sent a non-hostile e-mail to Seabourn on Friday, enquiring whether they thought that neglecting their clients would make them more or less likely to rebook with them and asking them if they could put a date on our refund.

 

This was their reply that came back within 24 hours, (note the mix of fonts):-

 

Dear Mr Moore,      

Thank you for your correspondence with Seabourn.

I am very sorry that you feel that there has been a lack of communication from us during this time, I can assure you that we have been in contact with your agent in regards to any relevant updates that require your immediate attention. At this time we are working tirelessly to action refunds and create future cruise credits for our guests, as well as preparing and planning for our fleet to resume normal operations in the future. You are able to find all of the latest information and updates on our website via this link https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/news.html 

As you have booked with a travel agent, I will need to direct you to them with any questions in relation to a refund as this will be managed by your agent.

I can confirm that we have not changed our policy in relation to shareholder benefits and that we are still offering onboard credit to shareholders providing the required documents are submitted to us and the relevant criteria are met.

If you have any further enquiries or questions please do not hesitate to email us at enquiries@seabourn.co.uk or call us on 0344 338 8615.

Kind regards,

Ben

Seabourn UK

Good for SB in UK,  I believe SB in Australia has been more proactive too...

 

Sadly, we booked through US agent and are stuck on hold....

 

Good luck!

[Paulchili]

4 hours ago, Rambo_Trout said:

I sent a non-hostile e-mail to Seabourn on Friday, enquiring whether they thought that neglecting their clients would make them more or less likely to rebook with them and asking them if they could put a date on our refund.

 

This was their reply that came back within 24 hours, (note the mix of fonts):-

 

Dear Mr Moore,      

Thank you for your correspondence with Seabourn.

I am very sorry that you feel that there has been a lack of communication from us during this time, I can assure you that we have been in contact with your agent in regards to any relevant updates that require your immediate attention. At this time we are working tirelessly to action refunds and create future cruise credits for our guests, as well as preparing and planning for our fleet to resume normal operations in the future. You are able to find all of the latest information and updates on our website via this link https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/news.html 

As you have booked with a travel agent, I will need to direct you to them with any questions in relation to a refund as this will be managed by your agent.

I can confirm that we have not changed our policy in relation to shareholder benefits and that we are still offering onboard credit to shareholders providing the required documents are submitted to us and the relevant criteria are met.

If you have any further enquiries or questions please do not hesitate to email us at enquiries@seabourn.co.uk or call us on 0344 338 8615.

Kind regards,

Ben

Seabourn UK

And how exactly is this helpful?

Are they implying that your TA has all the info re:your refund but they refuse to tell you?

[jozi]

1 minute ago, Rambo_Trout said:

 

That is why I added the question about the Shareholder Benefits, which they answered. It proved that I did not get a stock reply.

Oh, i thought you did get a stock reply!  That was a cute pun!

[rallydave]

23 minutes ago, HappyFeet13 said:

Many thanks!  I guess my question is a legal one.  I booked with AmEx travel. AmEx booked my cruise with Seabourn and chose to use Seabourn Air for my +/- $23,000 First Class air travel on Qantas. So, I have two problems. Getting my $23,000 refund from Qantas (via Seabourn Air), and getting my additional $24,000 refund from Seabourn for the cruise. I'm not sure Seabourn actually ever PAID Qantas, as I paid Seabourn in December, and I don't think they had to pay Qantas at that time.  AmEx told me "there's nothing we can do". But it seems to me that my TA, of that size, should have considerable influence with Seabourn, and at least get me my airfare back.  If Seabourn does not refund my money, I think I have a claim against AmEx. I booked a trip years ago, with a land agent, using my AmEx card. The agent absconded with the money, and AmEx gave me a full credit. What's the difference here?  Thanks again. 

OK, first of all you are mixing up Amex Travel and your Amex Credit card.  They are two separate entities so you cannot consider them one in the same so for instance when you say AmEx told me need to know which AmEx you are talking about.

 

Now, you booked thru Amex Travel using your Amex Credit Card and asked Amex Travel to book with Seabourn Cruises your cruise and your air.  Before Seabourn Cruises thru Seabourn Air, again two separate entities confirmed your air and provided a price you agreed with the air arrangements thru Amex Travel..  It doesn't matter if Seabourn Air has paid for your flights or not at this point.  You are owed the money from Qantas thru Seabourn Air thru Seabourn Cruises and back to your credit card.  It cannot and will not come back to you directly from Qantas or Seabourn Air as you have no privity of contract with Qantas.or Seabourn Air

 

So, since Seabourn is cruises promising to refund you, at this point first of all cannot sue or put anything in disputes with Amex Travel at any time,  Should Seabourn Cruises not pay, go bankrupt, etc. because you charged your crusie and air with Amex Credit Card you can in the end dispute the charges as you did with the thieving agent and then get your money back that way.  To be clear you have no claim against Amex Travel, only against Amex Bank who issues you your credit card.

 

I too am waiting for a refund from Seabourn as well as an FCC and while I would like to dispute the charges, that will only delay everyone's refunds as people will have to answer the credit card inquiry if and that is a big if the credit card company accepts the dispute which is extremely doubtful as they are aware of all the delays and issues and know it is too early for the dispute.

 

Hope this makes sense and you can join the rest of us impatiently waiting for our money.

[HappyFeet13]

I fully understand   I get it now. Will wait patiently for my $47,000. Thanks for the clear and detailed response.👍

[ab21au]

12 hours ago, HappyFeet13 said:

I fully understand   I get it now. Will wait patiently for my $47,000. Thanks for the clear and detailed response.👍

Did you get a better deal through Amex Travel?  When I looked at cruises, the price was $2,000 more than Seabourn’s website. I booked my airfare through Amex Travel as it was cheaper and I could use the $450 per year credit we get. 

[frantic36]

On 4/18/2020 at 6:17 PM, zimflyer said:

I am talking about cruising per se, why book and risk your trip or your money or virus in other countries or at sea, or...

 

No freedom to cancel within terms for refund, means no desire to book...

 

There's  a lot of maybes out there, I am personally happier to look at future land stay trips with weekly city stays in terrific hotels... much less risk.

 

 

If you are happy to use major hotels that may be the case but if like me you prefer smaller boutique places it can be hit or miss. Some I have had no problem but another due to a lockdown in their country they are claiming they have a problem as aren't allowed to go to the office to refund my CC.

 

Flights I have booked...Virgin I can only get a 12 month from time of cancellation credit. Singapore Airlines I will get one flight booked with points refunded, the other they say they can't do anything yet as the waiver is only until 31st May...this flight they have already cancelled themselves.  A flight to Seattle for a wedding in late June is still on a wait and see for cancellation. We play the game of chicken 😳.

 

I am trying to say it isn't that easy.

 

Julie

[HappyFeet13]

Ab21AU-  I have done many cruises with Seabourn, always buying my air myself, and booking direct with Seabourn. I noticed that everyone using a travel agent got a "deal"...special tours, or money credits, or upgrades.  I never got any. So this time I thought I'd be smart. I booked with AmEx Platinum.  They told me, after checking,  that they could get airfare cheaper via Seabourn Air that by going direct to Qantas.  I said OK.  So...IF Seabourn actually ever paid Qantas, they have to get their money back, and then credit it back to my AmEx card. Looks like I outsmarted myself. Had I bought the tickets direct from Qantas, I'd have my money by now. I also bought insurance for the whole package from Seabourn...several thousand dollars. But it doesn't provide coverage in this case. Altogether, more than $50,000 down the tube for "a once-in-a-lifetime, dream trip". Oh well.

Edited April 19, 2020 by HappyFeet13
correct addressee

[Rambo_Trout]

4 minutes ago, HappyFeet13 said:

Frantic36-  I have done many cruises with Seabourn, always buying my air myself, and booking direct with Seabourn. I noticed that everyone using a travel agent got a "deal"...special tours, or money credits, or upgrades.  I never got any. So this time I thought I'd be smart. I booked with AmEx Platinum.  They told me, after checking,  that they could get airfare cheaper via Seabourn Air that by going direct to Qantas.  I said OK.  So...IF Seabourn actually ever paid Qantas, they have to get their money back, and then credit it back to my AmEx card. Looks like I outsmarted myself. Had I bought the tickets direct from Qantas, I'd have my money by now. I also bought insurance for the whole package from Seabourn...several thousand dollars. But it doesn't provide coverage in this case. Altogether, more than $50,000 down the tube for "a once-in-a-lifetime, dream trip". Oh well.

 

I hope that you have claimed for your insurance from Seabourn on their Claim Form, or asked the Insurance Company for a Refund.

I arranged for our insurance to start the day before we were scheduled to fly (maybe not such a smart move), but cancelled before it started. They initially refused a refund, but I said that I was going down a Formal Complain Route and they agreed a 90% refund. I have claimed the other 10% from Seabourn.

[norm2002]

A tale of a thoughtful Captain and another grandstanding politician - The 'last cruise ship on Earth' finally comes home. Seems like the passengers were in a safe cocoon but must now come back to the reality of life in a Covid-19 world.

[Mahogany]

Just reread SLSD's initial post on January 28. Can anyone believe what has happened since then. It seems like a year ago, not 3 months.

[rols]

10 hours ago, Mahogany said:

Just reread SLSD's initial post on January 28. Can anyone believe what has happened since then. It seems like a year ago, not 3 months.

I re-read the start of that thread a couple of weeks ago. It's interesting to see how many divergent opinions there were at the start, unsurprising, there was very little information and I think everyone was weary and wary of another WHO-inspired panic, overhyped by the echo chamber which is the world's media which then rapidly fizzled out. Regrettably this one turned out to be real and containment failed. It sure does feel longer than 3 months, and that disconnect between perceived time and the real world grows ever greater every day we spend in lockdown. 

I look forward to the time we're back to arguing about the quality of the toilet paper, counting the shrimp in the cocktails and whining about The Retreat (which could perhaps be turned into an isolation ward for any passenger who gets sick on future cruises .. ok I'm just joking). 

[Pavovsky]

What is interesting is that the bonus FCC is increasing prices. Had been watching some cruises in the Adriatic which in previous years had reduced in price around now and they are either static or increasing. While Greece is expected to re-open to a degree (I have not seen  specific info on cruise ships) we may find that there are still restrictions on trans Atlantic flights if the US is not under control. If Adriatic sailings happens (doubtful) but there are no US guests, will prices drop or will they sail sub capacity? 

[jenidallas]

“Happy” (slightly belated) one-year anniversary to this thread.

 

In some ways, I can’t believe an entire year has passed by since we first started discussing a troubling virus in China possibly affecting a few sailings.  In other ways, I can’t believe it has only been a year... in some ways it feels like a decade.

 

I bumped just because I thought a Saturday night read might help me reorient to how we got here exactly.  🤪

[SLSD]

And what a year it has been!

[wesport]

I guess being stuck at home really made us appreciate and cherish our travels. I know, we planned and cruised for granted. I for one will appreciate any travel that much more when things start to open up. 

[zelker]

Without having to read all 1,200+ posts on this thread to see if it's mentioned, does anyone know if any Seabourn ships wound up with any pax or crew getting COVID?  

 

Asking because going forward in our planning (earliest would be December 2021 or January 2022), we're trying to decide if we think it's a bit safer to travel on Sojourn compared to one of HAL's Vista class ships with the potential of 2,800 people (pax and crew).  The shortest itinerary is 21 days, the longest is 39 days, and include itineraries like Panama Canal, Hawaii/Tahiti, or the first segment of the World Cruise (LA - SYD).  Our "theory" is it seems like a smaller ship with less people onboard would be less likely to contract COVID but are we fooling ourselves in our thinking?

 

Opinions welcome! 

Edited January 31, 2021 by zelker

[jenidallas]

On 2/26/2020 at 3:16 PM, jenidallas said:

 
Whereas in the flip side of that equation, I bought back 100 shares of CCL stock today after having divested at a profit last year.  I have had good luck investing in other travel stocks at times like this but at minimum, I get a shareholder on two cruises coming up this year.

Narrator:  “She would come around quickly to regretting that decision.”

[jenidallas]

On 3/4/2020 at 10:16 AM, jenidallas said:

Still planning to cruise on April 20 on the Quest transatlantic.  Still traveling to visit my hospital clients as normal.  Still getting on planes (and going to Seattle next week).  Still practicing the same common sense good practices around hand washing and the hygiene of touching strange things.  
 

I did restock on individual sanitizing wipes and bought a box of medical gloves (great for touching things in public in an outbreak).  We also restocked our freezer just to have food on hand when (not should there be) a community outbreak hits our area or I find out I’ve been on a flight with someone who has been exposed.  
 

I talk to medical professionals every weekday and they are not having the same panic that the media is.  As one said to me yesterday “Jen, we’ve got at three cases of coronavirus in our hospital right now... it’s just not THE coronavirus strain that everyone else is taking about, just the same one we’ve been treating for years.  If you want to be scared, be scared of the flu or of staph infections.  The reality is that you are probably going to catch this eventually... so you just have to practice common sense as usual, eat healthy, and do all the wellness things”.

This post did not age well... except the part where we stocked our freezer.  That was fortuitous.

[jenidallas]

5 hours ago, zelker said:

Without having to read all 1,200+ posts on this thread to see if it's mentioned, does anyone know if any Seabourn ships wound up with any pax or crew getting COVID?  

 

Asking because going forward in our planning (earliest would be December 2021 or January 2022), we're trying to decide if we think it's a bit safer to travel on Sojourn compared to one of HAL's Vista class ships with the potential of 2,800 people (pax and crew).  The shortest itinerary is 21 days, the longest is 39 days, and include itineraries like Panama Canal, Hawaii/Tahiti, or the first segment of the World Cruise (LA - SYD).  Our "theory" is it seems like a smaller ship with less people onboard would be less likely to contract COVID but are we fooling ourselves in our thinking?

 

Opinions welcome! 

I have searched for that information as well but did not find any final counts that included Seabourn ships.

 

We are having the same decision dilemma you are.  Granted, we don’t plan to sail on anything larger than a Seabourn ship again but do still worry about safety.  We are currently holding the 21 night Miami to LA holiday Panama Canal sailing for December because we had no skin in the game (an existing future cruise credit covered our deposit) but I put the odds on us taking it at about 25% for a variety of reasons.

[zelker]

54 minutes ago, jenidallas said:

I have searched for that information as well but did not find any final counts that included Seabourn ships.

 

We are having the same decision dilemma you are.  Granted, we don’t plan to sail on anything larger than a Seabourn ship again but do still worry about safety.  We are currently holding the 21 night Miami to LA holiday Panama Canal sailing for December because we had no skin in the game (an existing future cruise credit covered our deposit) but I put the odds on us taking it at about 25% for a variety of reasons.

We're on the 32 night version of your holiday cruise through the Canal and if we stick with that, will likely cut it down to the 21 night version.  I hate all the uncertainty as I'm sure everyone does.  

[JodiandFrank]

Looks like face masks will be required for any cruise that docks in the US according to the new CDC rule.  I couldn’t get the link to Post, but maybe someone with better IT skills will be able to...... it was on a RCCL Blog post.

 

Edited February 1, 2021 by JodiandFrank