Cunard's Coronavirus Cancellations/Refunds (Merged threads)

[Trevor33]

Am pleased, sounds like you have managed to get a reply from Cunard. Seems like they are mostly taking things in order. Is anyone still waiting - I saw the ABTA piece on either Sky or BBC saying refunds should be within 14 days - Did anyone else see this? I am waiting to hear from Cunard since February 24th - Happy Easter!

[candle in the wind]

8 hours ago, Trevor33 said:

Am pleased, sounds like you have managed to get a reply from Cunard. Seems like they are mostly taking things in order. Is anyone still waiting - I saw the ABTA piece on either Sky or BBC saying refunds should be within 14 days - Did anyone else see this? I am waiting to hear from Cunard since February 24th - Happy Easter!

Happy Easter and Passover to all. Be well.

[majortom10]

My cruise in May was cancelled in the second tranche and in these extraordinary times dont expect to get my cash refund within 14 days and will be happy to wait 60 days if that is what it takes as long as I get it.

[Trevor33]

Yes I am hoping for a promised reply from February as well! If they have had the money why dont they give it back? By not even replying do they then expect to wave some marketing under our noses and we then book straight away?  Perhaps it is a coincidence but the latest Marketing by Cunard they have emailed me with is ironically called "Lets Start Dreaming"! 

[david,Mississauga]

As of today Cunard has removed several cruises/crossings from the available inventory. This is not surprising, because some of them were still being sold notwithstanding the fact they couldn't possibly take place, e.g. Vancouver-Alaska in June.

 

The first available cruise of the QV is 7 August, the first on QE is 11 August and the first on the QM2 is  the w/b crossing of 14 August.

[Trevor33]

You would expect Cunard to make an announcement and put on their website from Tuesday(straight after Easter) rather than leave info on website suggesting restart may be after 15 May 2020

[Trevor33]

The Cunard main website has removed all cruises for QM2, QV & QE up until August 2020. I guess that they will probably be making an announcement very soon. I cannot see any reason to hold back on this if they have removed earlier cruises now.

[Guest SilverHengroen]

Sad, but certainly not surprising, and quite possibly not the last round of cancellations, either. ☹️

[Trevor33]

Perhaps a few were booking knowing that they would not sail in the hope of a FCC. Its a strange world but clearly if all cruises have been removed until August I cant see any other reason to do this

[Guest SilverHengroen]

Maybe, but I think more likely it's just the next step in a phased clearing of sailings they know aren't happening. They have limited resources to sort through cancellations, refunds etc so it's probably easier to do it in steps than just blanket cancel everything until the end of the year, or even further out! 

[Desert Cruisers]

50 minutes ago, david,Mississauga said:

As of today Cunard has removed several cruises/crossings from the available inventory. This is not surprising, because some of them were still being sold notwithstanding the fact they couldn't possibly take place, e.g. Vancouver-Alaska in June.

 

The first available cruise of the QV is 7 August, the first on QE is 11 August and the first on the QM2 is  the w/b crossing of 14 August.

We are on the QE June 22nd sailing out of Vancouver and fully expect a cancellation notice.  Celebrity has already cancelled our cruise prior to the QE.  We are scheduled to take the QM2 eastbound August 21 to link up with Azamara and Oceania sailings. Don't have to make final payment on QM2 until June so we have a little wiggle room.  Oceania goes hard the earliest but we have a backup cruise already in our lineup.  

 

As for the inventory withdrawal of cruises in  July and August....Carnival Cruises has closed inventory on selected cruises to new bookings.  The actual cruises have not been cancelled.  Inventory can be reopened if conditions changed.  Now, Cunard may not be using the same tactic but, then again, it might be withdrawing inventory "just in case" rather than cancelling these cruises outright.  Pure speculation on my part🙂

[Trevor33]

As they are no longer on the website, no one else can book. I would think if they thought there was a chance of them sailing before August then they would want to sail with a full ship and not remove the chance of people booking.

[T5LHR]

I had the email informing me I would get the cancelation invoice, and to ignore the cancelation charges stated. 

 

I then got another email WITH the cancelation invoice. 

 

What happens next? 

 

I am happy taking the FCC... 

 

Do I then get another email with a FCC reference number or something? 

[canoncruiser]

I contacted my TA to cancel my August / September crossings and to transfer the deposits to TAs in January on QM2 and QV. She said that a refund was sent to my card for one of the crossings, but I have yet to see it. She’s investigating. What are they up to?🙁

[Trevor33]

There seem to be  delays in refunds for probably many reasons. They are understandably inundated with requests, some argue cash flow but one thing that is a little surprising is that with all the staff that they have(particularly the ships Hotel Staff/Purser staff etc) that are not working on the ships you would have thought that the company would have done ALL they could to protect their business and put these extra staff into the offices or call centres to enable people trying to contact Cunard much easier. I am still waiting for a reply from February 24th! My experience of the knowledge of these administrative staff on board the ships is second to none and in many cases more up to date. Would it take too much to give them a little bit of training, keep them employed perhaps rather than furlough staff?

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, Trevor33 said:

There seem to be  delays in refunds for probably many reasons. They are understandably inundated with requests, some argue cash flow but one thing that is a little surprising is that with all the staff that they have(particularly the ships Hotel Staff/Purser staff etc) that are not working on the ships you would have thought that the company would have done ALL they could to protect their business and put these extra staff into the offices or call centres to enable people trying to contact Cunard much easier. I am still waiting for a reply from February 24th! My experience of the knowledge of these administrative staff on board the ships is second to none and in many cases more up to date. Would it take too much to give them a little bit of training, keep them employed perhaps rather than furlough staff?

Do not think it is practical to put Hotel Staff/Purser staff off ships into offices and call centres in Southampton for varying reasons. 1) there are a lot are of foreign nationals and if they are not on the ships then they would obviously go home to their respective countries 2) if they came off the ship they would have to go into some sort of isolation for 14 nts where would they go and finally those that do work on ships that are British are from all over the UK so where would they live whilst working in offices/call centres which are all based in Southampton.

[PORT ROYAL]

13 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Do not think it is practical to put Hotel Staff/Purser staff off ships into offices and call centres in Southampton for varying reasons. 1) there are a lot are of foreign nationals and if they are not on the ships then they would obviously go home to their respective countries 2) if they came off the ship they would have to go into some sort of isolation for 14 nts where would they go and finally those that do work on ships that are British are from all over the UK so where would they live whilst working in offices/call centres which are all based in Southampton.

 

UK people after 14 days isolation, can work from home, just like some staff at Southampton.  Also foreign nationals can work from their "home" because of technology available.

 

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, PORT ROYAL said:

 

UK people after 14 days isolation, can work from home, just like some staff at Southampton.  Also foreign nationals can work from their "home" because of technology available.

 

How long would it take to set up and then retrain. Sorry to me not practical.

[PORT ROYAL]

5 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

How long would it take to set up and then retrain. Sorry to me not practical.

 

Ship Guest Services, and Ship Cruise Sales are already Cunard software savvy.

Set up?  Laptop, Phone line, Router, Connect, Log In, Password, done.

 

[majortom10]

1 minute ago, PORT ROYAL said:

 

Ship Guest Services, and Ship Cruise Sales are already Cunard software savvy.

Set up?  Laptop, Phone line, Router, Connect, Log In, Password, done.

 

Think that is insulting to the skills and training that those already working and based in Southampton have.

[PORT ROYAL]

8 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Think that is insulting to the skills and training that those already working and based in Southampton have.

 

Why?  When all Cunard Sales, land and sea, receive the same high quality training and support.

 

[beaveh]

I've been spending the last few days daydreaming about my Cunard cruise booked for 31st May.

I've been thinking about the possibility of the boat being half empty, a possible cabin upgrade, how I would spend the extra 300 USD onboard spend we've been given. 

I noticed yesterday the Cunard site only had August cruises listed, now it looks like my online TA is only listing August cruises.

I'll keep on daydreaming until the Cunard email turns up.... 

[Trevor33]

26 minutes ago, beaveh said:

I've been spending the last few days daydreaming about my Cunard cruise booked for 31st May.

I've been thinking about the possibility of the boat being half empty, a possible cabin upgrade, how I would spend the extra 300 USD onboard spend we've been given. 

I noticed yesterday the Cunard site only had August cruises listed, now it looks like my online TA is only listing August cruises.

I'll keep on daydreaming until the Cunard email turns up.... 

Sadly the queue is quite long, I am waiting for a reply that was promised on the 24th February! Think Cunard should get their finger out ....... After all dont they expect us to rebook and support their business? Meanwhile they have over £11,000 of my money alone. 

[BklynBoy8]

30 minutes ago, beaveh said:

I've been spending the last few days daydreaming about my Cunard cruise booked for 31st May.

I've been thinking about the possibility of the boat being half empty, a possible cabin upgrade, how I would spend the extra 300 USD onboard spend we've been given. 

I noticed yesterday the Cunard site only had August cruises listed, now it looks like my online TA is only listing August cruises.

I'll keep on daydreaming until the Cunard email turns up.... 

Unfortunately we knew what was coming and postponed our 4th of July cruise on the QM2.

 

Last week we transferred our this years cruise, now booked for the same time next June/July with a better location of the cabin and the same Club Britannia catagory we like.

 

With the re-booking our dream lives on and looking forward even more towards next years sailing on the Mary.

 

Disappointing but an extreme safer choice......Counting The Day........445 and counting down....

 

[latserrof]

18 hours ago, Trevor33 said:

As they are no longer on the website, no one else can book. I would think if they thought there was a chance of them sailing before August then they would want to sail with a full ship and not remove the chance of people booking.

I think one of the rationales for Carnival stopping sales of some of its cruises but not cancelling them was to limit the passenger load (for social distancing, etc.) if they eventually sail (or at least to create that impression). In other words, they want to start up again with less-than-full ships. And with all the additional cleaning and serving that will be needed, some passenger cabins may be needed to house crew. I don't foresee sailings for quite some time, however. 

Edited April 12, 2020 by latserrof