Should those with Princess Cruises booked be able to Cancel due to how this Disease was handled?

[kkmiausa]

It has become increasingly clear that Princess was negligent in controlling the spread of this virus aboard the Diamond Princess. In particular the fact that the crew was not isolated and were allowed to continue to prepare foods and deliver them to passengers. We took a cruise on Princess last year with our family for the first time in many years as we usually cruise on the smaller ships of Seabourn and Regent with far fewer passengers 450 to 500 compared to 3,000 plus. My husband returned home and had to be hospitalized from a severe lung infection. We are both nonsmokers and were in good health . Now I had booked another Caribbean cruise and paid for a suite, so  to cancel had to take the penalty to rebook another cruise at 75 per cent within the next year.  I do not want to cruise on Princess again. I do not want to risk not only illness, but quarantine possibilities.   I think they should in good faith waive the penalty of 75 per cent and the rebooking with their standard insurance coverage and refund 75 per cent of our booking which was over $6000 and not require us to rebook with them? This seems reasonable after the terrible way this crisis was handled.  All thoughts are respected.

[beg3yrs]

First of all, the situation in Japan was controlled by the Japanese Ministry of Health, not Princess. All they could do was cooperate.

 

If you don't want to cruise on Princess again, those are your feelings but blaming Princess for the corona virus outbreak and the way the Japanese handled it is IMHO a poor attempt at getting around what you previously agreed to in the cruise contract, especially when you're cruising in a part of the world that remains unaffected.

[katisdale]

I think Princess has handled this exceptionally well, therefore, my answer is no.

 

 

[Colo Cruiser]

Ignorance is bliss.

[neverbeenhere]

February 15, 2020 at 10:40PM PT

Updated Cancellation Policy

Guests booked on an Asia cancelled cruise, and have cancelled their booking on or after January 20, 2020, will receive details on a compensation package in the coming weeks.

[icat2000]

Sure you can cancel anytime you like nothing stopping you. 

[Cindy]

No, I don’t think you should get the reimbursement instead of the FCC because of what happened on the Diamond Princess. The actions of the Japanese government and the quarantine of the Diamond Princess have no bearing on your cruise in the Caribbean. 

 

You can certainly choose not to use your FCC, but refusing to cruise on Princess because of the Coronavirus situation in Japan doesn’t exempt you from the contract you agreed to.

 

I don’t think your request is reasonable at all.

[hapster85]

In particular the fact that the crew was not isolated and were allowed to continue to prepare foods and deliver them to passengers.

So, umm, if everyone is isolated, how is anyone getting fed? [emoji849]

[kkmiausa]

So, would you want to go on a cruise next week to the Caribbean where last week Caribbean Princess had to turn around with Norovirus? And pay premium price as well? I doubt many of you would still want to go while the coronavirus is a worldwide threat. We don't know where the other guests are flying in from and if they could also have been exposed and we end up being quarantined.

 

They could have brought in outside company to feed the passengers with MRE's equivalent.

Edited February 20, 2020 by kkmiausa
added info

[leck57]

It appears that the way the virus has continued to spread on the Diamond, a number of practices that were put in place did not work. However I did think Princess and Japan Health were handling the situation very well, but many lessons for the future will be learnt out of this. 

It is easy like the OP to come in late with 20/20 hindsight. Linking a cruise in the Caribbean with Novo to the Diamond situation is ridiculous. 

[history_bits]

I am cruising next week to the Caribbean.

 

Going to be prepared. Princess has sent us emails and notifications about how they plan to mitigate Coronavirus on those ships. That info is all over Cruise Critic so I wont repeat it. (Questionnaires, passport checks, etc)

 

I feel fine with traveling. I understand the risks and believe the rewards outweigh them. That's my choice.

Edited February 20, 2020 by history_bits
Typo

[Shmoo here]

12 minutes ago, kkmiausa said:

They could have brought in outside company to feed the passengers with MRE's equivalent.

And, as soon as the people delivering the meals onboard arrived, they too would have been quarantined.  Since the ship was not actually docked, how long do you think it would be getting those meals to the people onboard?  And how hot would they be?

[kkmiausa]

That's good to hear. I have received no such notifications, maybe because I cancelled last week.   Good luck to you and I hope you enjoy your cruise!  We were looking forward to the Crown Princess.  If you are not already in a suite, maybe you can score an upgrade to our Vista if you are on that cruise 🙂

 

[AlyssaJames]

Unprecedented situation. I’m generally not one to defend the mega corps, but yeah ... unprecedented situation, and they weren’t the only players. 

[PhoenixCruiser]

That's good to hear. I have received no such notifications, maybe because I cancelled last week.   Good luck to you and I hope you enjoy your cruise!  We were looking forward to the Crown Princess.  If you are not already in a suite, maybe you can score an upgrade to our Vista if you are on that cruise [emoji846]
 

If you canceled of course you wouldn't receive updates.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, katisdale said:

I think Princess has handled this exceptionally well, therefore, my answer is no.

 

 

I agree. It was a completely new situation and was handled in the best manner it could have been in the circumstances.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, Cindy said:

No, I don’t think you should get the reimbursement instead of the FCC because of what happened on the Diamond Princess. The actions of the Japanese government and the quarantine of the Diamond Princess have no bearing on your cruise in the Caribbean. 

 

You can certainly choose not to use your FCC, but refusing to cruise on Princess because of the Coronavirus situation in Japan doesn’t exempt you from the contract you agreed to.

 

I don’t think your request is reasonable at all.

I agree with your comments. We have four Princess cruises booked for this year and have not even considered cancelling, not for one minute. However, if the OP (kkmiausa) feels that they would be worried about their health by going on a Princess cruise, it would probably be better for them is they cancelled.

 

BTW, once Princess advised the Japanese authorities of the case of Coronavirus (in a passenger who had already disembarked), they were under the control of the Japanese Ministry of Health. In hindsight, it appears that the quarantine of the ship worked, but the isolation within the ship wasn't as effective. The Japanese infection specialist criticized the Japanese 'bureaucrats' (his word) who were in charge, not medical people.

 

No - I don't blame Princess. The comments I have heard from people on board the Diamond, were complimentary about the way Princess was treating them. Naturally they were (and are) worried and frustrated at the situation.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, kkmiausa said:

 

They could have brought in outside company to feed the passengers with MRE's equivalent.

That would take time and while that was being organised, the people needed food. In the latter stage, food was brought from outside and maybe that should have been done earlier, but someone still had to deliver the food to the cabins. Maybe that is where some infections occurred.

[Aus Traveller]

The OP mentioned that they did not want to go on the Caribbean Princess because the ship had numerous cases of noro virus recently. We have been on several cruises (out of a total of 85) where there has been a Red Alert for noro. We then take extra precautions and have avoided it. So far.

 

But noro can be in all sorts of environments. Our whole family got it at an island resort years ago and there have been several occasions I know of where aged care facilities have been in lock-down because of noro. It happens in any environment where people live in close quarters to each other.

[nini]

The Diamond Princess is not alone in this matter. There were other ships

quarantined; a Royal Caribbean ship in Rome and a HAL in Asia as well.

So I guess HAL and RC will be off the table too.

 

From what I have read, Princess is moving forward with compensations.

 

I think Princess was thrown a doozy and did the best they could while

trying to deal with the Japanese government; many international laws

going on...

[Thrak]

From everything I have read and seen on the news Princess has handled this issue exceedingly well. To my way of thinking they are to be commended for the way they have dealt with this unfortunate and unexpected problem. If someone doesn't like the way they handled things they are free to cancel any future cruises. Not a big deal. To the OP: You did purchase the "cancel for any reason" insurance - right?

 

We are booked with Princess for 33 days in November/December. We do have the "cancel for any reason" insurance but have no intention of using it. We are looking forward to our cruises.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, leck57 said:

It appears that the way the virus has continued to spread on the Diamond, a number of practices that were put in place did not work.

 

We really do not know how much the virus spread among passengers on the ship during the quarantine.

 

Yes, the numbers of passengers testing positive went up as the days of the quarantine passed, but these were the first times that most of these passengers were tested. Unless they had reported symptoms earlier in the quarantine, they were not tested more than once and that one test showed they had the virus.

 

It is not like they had tested negative on day 6 and then positive on day 10, because they would not have had a negative test in the first place. In this hypothetical example, day 10 would have been the first test.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

 

It is not like they had tested negative on day 6 and then positive on day 10, because they would not have had a negative test in the first place. In this hypothetical example, day 10 would have been the first test.

Apparently that is what has happened in some cases. Possibly because the virus hadn't multiplied enough to be detected in the first test or something like that. 

[fragilek]

Princess was not calling the shots on the diamond in Japan- Nor should they have been, experts form all over the world were feeding info to the relevant authorities, unfortunately this is a new virus some info was outdated almost as soon as it was rolled out.  There will be lessons learned from this as there is for all new viruses.  This one is different because is has spread world wide so fast thus the time lag in solutions.  Japan has gone out on a limb in their decisions not to invoke a further 14 day quarantine period after the first negative test once the passengers disembark.  Only time will tell if this was wise.  

 

As for Princesses it would be nice if they put a shout out to all customers booked on Asian itineraries that each sailing will be assessed at least a month ahead based on if the virus continues to be prevalent in that area- of course there still has to be flexibility as prevalence could change in the last month and they could still have to cancel.

 

Other areas of the world are deemed not to have non connected-traceable spread at the moment so Princess conditions should still stand (on saying that I would probably cancel but that is due to my own health conditions v' any risk undertaking long haul flights- I would expect to loose my money and would not expect Princess to cover me)

[puppycanducruise]

Princess and the Japanese government did what they thought was right.

The situation was unique.