Anyone sailing Med on Costa March/April?

[dritan]

Hi all

I'm pretty sure that now I will not cancel and pay the £100 fee ( given that the likes of Princess are offering perks at the minute and we are being penalised - what's that all about?).

Watching the news, it appears that the EU has agreed to close its borders for 30 days - that will take us up to at least 16th April and past the point of our cruise.  As our cruise is going via Spain, Italy and France - I would strongly suspect this means that all Med cruises will be cancelled until that point.  Costa will probably have to play catch up but I feel like their hands are tied now and they are going to have to get cancelling those early April cruises.

 

Tim - that seems very extreme ( the 50%)Are you based in the UK or another country?  If the UK, then it's completely out of sync with what I was being offered last week.

[dritan]

Additionally, I've done a check on the Costa website which was last update 4 days ago ;-( and it is showing just cancellations up to around the 4th April).  MSC on the other hand was updated 3 days ago and has Med cruises cancelled up to around 25th April.  They are offering refunds and either 100 or 200 euro OBC dependant on the length of cruise.  

Costa are going to have to do something to encourage their passengers back as right now, they are lagging far behind.

And as others have mentioned, this is all leaving a bit of a bad taste in our mouths. 

[Bobbingbob]

I think you are probably right regarding your cruise being cancelled and surely Costa will need to start updating and giving out that information soon. I actually believe that the lockdowns in these individual Med countries will go on longer especially in Spain, for example, as the two weeks is highly likely to be extended. Not much point cruising, health risks aside, if you are not going to be able to enjoy many ports?

I hate to say this but this situation is going to go on for many months so no one can predict what is going to happen re.cruises (or anything else for that matter) for the foreseeable future. I have received more advance notification about the changing situation from airlines than from Costa.

Best if luck to you.

[drsel]

Costa cancelled my cruise and is offering a full refund or 30% discount on any future Cruise upto November 2020

[Bobbingbob]

That’s seems a very reasonable offer but how much notice did you get please? Did you have to phone for that info or did they put the offer to you in an email perhaps? Phone lines are very very busy understandably. 

[Bobbingbob]

By the way, what did you decide to do? I think I’d be inclined to take the refund personally.

[drsel]

16 hours ago, Tim-C said:

I spoke to someone from Costa Crociere today.  We are NOT entitled to the £50 cancellation fee as we’re under 45 days from sailing.  We would have to forfeit 50% of our money.  He said that if Costa cancelled themselves, we would obviously get it all back, but clearly can’t predict what will occur over the coming weeks.

 

The best options for us are to a) go ahead with it. b) transfer to another cruise in the future. I would really like to experience Costa Smeralda so I’m tempted to alter it to go in July. (We are both teachers). We can transfer it as late as the date when we are actually scheduled to board on 6th April. 

Please dont cancel & lose 50%.

If the virus is still rampant in July & ports are still closed, then let Costa cancel it & give U a full refund or a 30% discount on a future cruise

[drsel]

9 minutes ago, Bobbingbob said:

That’s seems a very reasonable offer but how much notice did you get please? Did you have to phone for that info or did they put the offer to you in an email perhaps? Phone lines are very very busy understandably. 

Costa emailed me today. No phone call.

I got 1 years notice.

[drsel]

6 minutes ago, Bobbingbob said:

By the way, what did you decide to do? I think I’d be inclined to take the refund personally.

Wondering what to do--are there any good cruises till Nov 2020 to use my 30% discount?

[drsel]

Costa is trying to preserve all their loyal customers, luring us with 30% discount on future cruises and not take a cash refund

Edited March 17, 2020 by drsel

[Bobbingbob]

Well I suppose if you book a future cruise, you will still have the option of cancelling 45 days before the new date and lose £50 per person. 30% is a big discount, However, at this stage nobody can predict what is going to happen so it is still a gamble.

[drsel]

May be by September, it should settle down

[Bobbingbob]

Yes, we must remain hopeful. It would be so nice to have a cruise to look forward to given the next weeks and months are going to be dire.

[Tim-C]

Had this reply to my email sent on Friday. It contradicts what they told me on the phone in certain ways, which makes you question what’s going on...

 I think I’ll leave it a few days and maybe transfer to a cruise in Easter 2021. 

Right now, if you were to cancel this cruise ( since it is still confirmed for us) based on the date you sent the email (13.3), the fee would be 25% of the total frozen until 21 days before departure.
However, if you call us at 08003890622and you ask us to change the departure date, we will be happy to change it with no fees but simply applying the cost of the new cruise you choose.

Please find an alternative on www.costacruises.co.uk and then call us when you have it so that we can move you, we have to work on gthe previous booking. We are not responsible for the flights, sorry, since they are booked outiside Costa, for that you need to refer to the airline.

[drsel]

I think that's a good idea and you are very lucky they are not charging you any penalty for a date change

[Tim-C]

I’ve emailed and asked them to change to a Smeralda cruise in Summer Holidays. Keen to do it before there’s a rush if they DO cancel my April one. 

 

If the crisis continues and the July one looks unlikely, they’ll cancel or I’ll just postpone again. 

[drsel]

I hope the cruise lines are still in business with all these losses.
There is a very active thread about Royal Caribbean going bankrupt

[dethman]

9 hours ago, drsel said:

I hope the cruise lines are still in business with all these losses.
There is a very active thread about Royal Caribbean going bankrupt

 

RCL is a tremendous buy at $22 down from $133 high, IF they don't go bankrupt.   🤔

[drsel]

 
RCL is a tremendous buy at $22 down from $133 high, IF they don't go bankrupt.   [emoji848]

In the last recession of 2008 the share price reached $8

[drsel]

This time, some experts are predicting a depression

 

 

[dritan]

Hi - well a little update.  March 19th has come and gone. This was the date by which I could cancel and pay a £100 fee.  I decided not to call and assume that it will be cancelled anyway.

Again - I keep checking the website and find it increasingly poor that there hasn't been an update since 13th March.  Which really isn't good enough at this time. 

[drsel]

If you have already paid in full and Costa cancels your Cruise last minute,  they will not refund your money but give you a 150% fcc

[drsel]

It's 150 % on the basic Cruise fare only. It can be used within 12 months and you can book Cruises till November 2021

[drsel]

in my case I had only paid a deposit on two Cruises in March and April 2021 so they are offering me a full refund of the deposit or 30% discount on any two Cruises up till 30 November 2020

[drsel]

For Cruises after 1 Dec 2020, the discount is only 10%

if I don't inform them by email my choice of two Cruises within 30 days,  then the discount offers are both cancelled and they will only refund my deposit