Princess cancels next two Sapphire Princess sailings

[dns65]

Princess has cancelled the Feb 13 and Feb 23rd Sapphire Princess sailings out of Singapore.  Booked passengers woke up to find notices from Princess today on the cancellations

 

Good that they have finally acknowledged that Singapore is being impacted by Coronavirus almost as much as Hong Kong.  But very poor of them to wait until the last minute to do this.

Question is, how much longer is Princess going to continue to sail in Asia?   There is a lot of stress and tension amongst passengers with bookings over the next few months.  Some clarity of the situation and forewarning would be appreciated vs cancelling on short notice subjecting passengers to financial loss for cancellation of airfares or hotels. 

This is turning into a real PR nightmare for them, question is how much longer are they going to continue to sail in Asia vs cancelling all cruises like other lines? 

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by dns65

[voljeep]

Princess is just now cancelling a cruise that leaves tomorrow ???

[dns65]

2 minutes ago, voljeep said:

Princess is just now cancelling a cruise that leaves tomorrow ???

 

 

Based on what is being posted on other websites from passengers, yes....  

[perditax]

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/carnival-says-there-could-be-as-much-as-65-cents-per-share-fiscal-year-impact-if-all-operations-suspended-in-asia-2020-02-12

 

Stock price still up today though.

 

[Daniel A]

3 minutes ago, perditax said:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/carnival-says-there-could-be-as-much-as-65-cents-per-share-fiscal-year-impact-if-all-operations-suspended-in-asia-2020-02-12

 

Stock price still up today though.

 

Certainly has a long way to go to get back to where it was when I bought. 

[luckyinpa]

9 minutes ago, voljeep said:

Princess is just now cancelling a cruise that leaves tomorrow ???

 

they must be reading the NCL playbook 🤪

 

pretty sure their singapore cruises are still on

[azbirdmom]

26 minutes ago, voljeep said:

Princess is just now cancelling a cruise that leaves tomorrow ???

 

They actually cancelled on the same day, a few hours before embarkation.  It's February 13th in Singapore.  Feel so bad for everyone there scrambling to find a way home.

[dns65]

1 minute ago, azbirdmom said:

 

They actually cancelled on the same day, a few hours before embarkation.  It's February 13th in Singapore.  Feel so bad for everyone there scrambling to find a way home.

 

It was announced to the current passengers on the ship last night of the sailing for people who may have booked a B2B

 

Princess is not handling this well, realistically they should be suspending all Asia cruises for the next 6 months til the situation stabilizes before they have a repeat of the Diamond or end up with a ship that no one will allow to dock.    

[azbirdmom]

1 minute ago, dns65 said:

 

It was announced to the current passengers on the ship last night of the sailing for people who may have booked a B2B

 

Princess is not handling this well, realistically they should be suspending all Asia cruises for the next 6 months til the situation stabilizes before they have a repeat of the Diamond or end up with a ship that no one will allow to dock.    

 

Yes, heard that the announcement was made on the ship before the official notice went out from Princess.  Agree that Princess should cancel cruises to the area for a while, not sure if six months is appropriate but at least two would seem prudent and then reassess as the situation unfolds.

[dns65]

26 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Yes, heard that the announcement was made on the ship before the official notice went out from Princess.  Agree that Princess should cancel cruises to the area for a while, not sure if six months is appropriate but at least two would seem prudent and then reassess as the situation unfolds.

 

They will eventually run out of ports to go to.  They've nixed China and Hong Kong, who knows how the Japanese are going to feel about future cruise ship visitors and according to this, South Korea is putting restrictions on cruise ship passengers.  And we don't know the underlying reason for the Sapphire cancellations, speculation is that some ports were not going to allow the ship to dock but that is all hearsay

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22439-coronavirus-cruise-impact-wednesday-update.html

South Korea has issued new health standards, requiring ships submit various documents to government officials before entering any port in the country. Among the reporting requirements are whether any passengers have a cough, fever or any other flu-like symptoms. “As long as one person has symptoms … no one on the ship will be allowed to disembark.”

[Daniel A]

Isn't this the reason you buy trip interruption coverage?  It even looks like from the OP's e-mail that Princess may on a case by case basis reimburse PAX for uninsured losses.  In the long run, Princess has a responsibility to not take its PAX to any danger spots in the world.  Princess would certainly be negligent if PAX got sick and died because they ignored all the warnings and just went ahead with planned itineraries because it might be inconvenient for some PAX.  Last minute cancellations are a part of travel of any type, it's a risk we all take when we book travel.

[dns65]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

Isn't this the reason you buy trip interruption coverage?  It even looks like from the OP's e-mail that Princess may on a case by case basis reimburse PAX for uninsured losses.  In the long run, Princess has a responsibility to not take its PAX to any danger spots in the world.  Princess would certainly be negligent if PAX got sick and died because they ignored all the warnings and just went ahead with planned itineraries because it might be inconvenient for some PAX.  Last minute cancellations are a part of travel of any type, it's a risk we all take when we book travel.

 

For people who are already there, will they get reimbursed for things in their trip that were used?  IE: The airfare to get to Singapore, their hotel room they booked for overnight?   

 

Still amazed that they'd cancel with less than 24 hours notice and frustrated they are only looking at near term, nothing cancelled for March or later.   Other websites are flooded with concern from people booked for the sailing departing March 1st. 

 

I'm not sailing til May but if you're gonna pull the plug on Asia cruises, do what NCL did vs one or two at a time on short notice. 

Edited February 12, 2020 by dns65

[Coral]

I would just bring the ship back to North America for Alaska for the summer. Or do summer West Coast coastal cruises.

 

Properly reimburse people!

Edited February 12, 2020 by Coral

[Mapu]

26 minutes ago, dns65 said:

 

For people who are already there, will they get reimbursed for things in their trip that were used?  IE: The airfare to get to Singapore, their hotel room they booked for overnight?   

 

Still amazed that they'd cancel with less than 24 hours notice and frustrated they are only looking at near term, nothing cancelled for March or later.   Other websites are flooded with concern from people booked for the sailing departing March 1st. 

 

I'm not sailing til May but if you're gonna pull the plug on Asia cruises, do what NCL did vs one or two at a time on short notice. 

What is truly disconcerting is that the Princess Website has not been updated today with the most current information. The last update was yesterday.

[Ombud]

3 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Certainly has a long way to go to get back to where it was when I bought. 

Bought at 54.95 😡 but have received 1250 in OBC + dividends and another 200 pending for 3/2020 so not too bad

[dns65]

2 minutes ago, Mapu said:

What is truly disconcerting is that the Princess Website has not been updated today with the most current information. The last update was yesterday.

 

They really are not handling this well.  You would think that with the Diamond Princess in the news, they'd be hyper-sensitive to further erosion of their reputation and would be on top of things and dealing with matters proactively vs this totally reactive response. 

[AF-1]

Sorry for those who are in Asia and got the news.  What a way to find out. Let's hope the travel agents work overtime to get everyone back safely

[Coral]

Isn't Jan Swartz over in Asia now or did she return?

[voljeep]

25 minutes ago, Coral said:

I would just bring the ship back to North America for Alaska for the summer. Or do summer West Coast coastal cruises.

 

Properly reimburse people!

or some EAST coast cruises 🚢🦄🥃

[AF-1]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

Isn't Jan Swartz over in Asia now or did she return?

She is back in the US.  If you go to Princess facebook page they posted two videos. One is from Jan telling people what they are doing; and the other posted this morning is from VP telling about the latest updates

[Coral]

1 minute ago, voljeep said:

or some EAST coast cruises 🚢🦄🥃

Exactly! The ports would mostly be open (Canada NE). I think HAL does some but I don't think many other lines do in the summer. Heck, they would probably fill it in the Caribbean also.

[Coral]

Just now, AF-1 said:

She is back in the US.  If you go to Princess facebook page they posted two videos. One is from Jan telling people what they are doing; and the other posted this morning is from VP telling about the latest updates

That was a very quick trip! Not sure if it was worth the effort Jan.

[AF-1]

She went over to access the situation and put plans into action.  She also had to find out what the Japanese Gov't wanted Princess to do

[Coral]

1 minute ago, AF-1 said:

She went over to access the situation and put plans into action.  She also had to find out what the Japanese Gov't wanted Princess to do

So Photo Op?

 

Sorry, cynical at this point.

 

Continued thoughts and prayers to those on the Diamond Princess and those affected by this illness.

Edited February 12, 2020 by Coral

[AF-1]

Coral,  I believe any company that has business on foreign soil; that has a severe issue and public relations issues; like live news; has to send the CEO;   anyone less than the CEO would be a slap in the face to the passengers on that ship.