Should I cancel May 23 Alaska

[Janet76]

We have May Alaska in/out of Vancouver.  Canada says no cruise ship until July 1.  My cruise is fully paid now.  If I  cancel by March 19th, HAL says I still can get a full cash refund minus $350 which will be applied as FCC.  I did not purchase Cruise Protection Program.  Should I cancel now?  I want cash refund rather than FCC but at the same time I do not want to lose perks that came with current booking.  We have $600 OBC which is not transferrable. 

 

Janet 

Edited March 16, 2020 by Janet76
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[NCTribeFan]

Pretty sure this is a personal decision.  What I or anyone else would do should have no bearing on what you feel is the right thing for you to do!

[MudderBear]

I' m in the same boat. HAL only sent out one email....a week ago.  And we have to decide by March 21.  They haven't pushed that date back yet.

[CruiserBruce]

Agree, a personal decision. But you know the ship isn't going to sail. Why might you wait?

[Janet76]

Funny thing is HAL and other lines are accepting  May and June Alaska Cruise from Vancouver.  What is this all about.  Is this indicating HAL may change Vancouver Port to Seattle?  We specifically booked roundtrip from Vancouver because we wanted to sail inner passage from Vancouver.  

[Tampa Girl]

Your ship is apparently not going to be able to sail, at least out of Vancouver.  Cancel (if it already has not been cancelled), take the cash and the FCC (you are pondering over $350?).  You can always rebook when things settle down or rebook another cruise from another port.

[Janet76]

Well, we will probably end up rebooking Alaska next year except price is so much higher.  We also did notice, most of rooms are already sold out for 7 days inside passage.

 

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, Janet76 said:

Funny thing is HAL and other lines are accepting  May and June Alaska Cruise from Vancouver.  What is this all about.  Is this indicating HAL may change Vancouver Port to Seattle?  We specifically booked roundtrip from Vancouver because we wanted to sail inner passage from Vancouver.  

As mentioned on another thread on the same topic, canceling the current bookings, and getting the thousands of stranded pax home is the priority. Not making the website look pretty. What priority do you think they should put first?

[T8NCruise]

1 hour ago, Janet76 said:

Funny thing is HAL and other lines are accepting  May and June Alaska Cruise from Vancouver.  What is this all about.  Is this indicating HAL may change Vancouver Port to Seattle?  We specifically booked roundtrip from Vancouver because we wanted to sail inner passage from Vancouver.  

 

Seattle is such a hotspot for the virus, why on earth would HAL even consider doing that?  Oh right, revenue....  It makes no sense at all to bring people into and out of the area, and possibly carry the virus to Alaska.

[Oceansaway17]

I would say take a pause and let a few days go back and the mad scramble as well.

Then flip a coin or wait and see.

A lot depends on Canada and Seattle not just the cruise lines

 

 

[rj42]

There's no chance the cruise will happen, so you can either cancel now or wait for them to cancel and give you a refund. They can't move the port to Seattle, because it would still have no Canadian ports to make a required foreign stop. There's next to no chance that Seattle will accept cruise ships, because Seattle has banned any gathering over 50 people and closed all restaurants, entertainment venues, and any other gathering spot. I also have a 3-day cruise leaving Vancouver in May, and rather than try to cancel now during the worst customer service emergency and financial/logistical nightmare the cruise lines have ever had, I'm just going to wait for them to cancel and refund, once they realize any cruises out of Seattle or Vancouver aren't going to happen until at least July. 

[Alibaster McGillicutty]

8 minutes ago, rj42 said:

There's no chance the cruise will happen, so you can either cancel now or wait for them to cancel and give you a refund. They can't move the port to Seattle, because it would still have no Canadian ports to make a required foreign stop. There's next to no chance that Seattle will accept cruise ships, because Seattle has banned any gathering over 50 people and closed all restaurants, entertainment venues, and any other gathering spot. I also have a 3-day cruise leaving Vancouver in May, and rather than try to cancel now during the worst customer service emergency and financial/logistical nightmare the cruise lines have ever had, I'm just going to wait for them to cancel and refund, once they realize any cruises out of Seattle or Vancouver aren't going to happen until at least July. 

 

This is what we are waiting for.  We are May 3 out of Seattle with a stop in Victoria.

Right now the "offer" is we can cancel by 3/31 (and get some kind of FCC or whatever) or stay booked and get $200 OBC.  I don't see that happening so we are patiently waiting as long as we can.  We want as much $ back in our hand rather than a FCC.  Just a personal preference.

Besides, my big box TA doesn't want me bothering them unless my sailing is within 7 days.

 

2 weeks to make our decision......but I think there will be other decisions/events will make our mind up for us.

 

[Janet76]

What is the hold up then,  HAL needs to make up their decision.

we have til 19th of March to cancel. 

[conwakr]

23 minutes ago, Janet76 said:

What is the hold up then,  HAL needs to make up their decision.

we have til 19th of March to cancel. 

If you are cancelled you will get a refund.  Hard to say what will happen with things changing so fast. HAL leadership is no more omnipotent than we are.  Parts of the Jones act could be temporarily halted so trips could originate from the US is only one possibility.  The virus could wane by then and Canadian ports could reopen...who can say. Only you can decide whether you can wait and see and if not, then yes, you can cancel. 

[The Beaver]

15 minutes ago, Janet76 said:

What is the hold up then,  HAL needs to make up their decision.

we have til 19th of March to cancel. 

Nobody knows what is going to happen tomorrow or next week or in two months ( WA and NY are good examples- new cases keep increasing on a daily basis) .

The virus spreads exponentially and we may see more and more contagions especially from those who are asymptotic - similar to Italy and Spain.

Just to give you an idea, check these two sites , especially the map ( press PLAY on the first one)

https://nextstrain.org/ncov

https://www.gisaid.org/epiflu-applications/global-cases-covid-19/

 

Even the best epidemiologists won't be able to give HAL a straight answer , should they decide to consult them to plan ahead. 

There is no vaccine yet and even if the pandemic  subsides during summer , some ports may still not allow the cruise ships in .

So you can  either wait till the last minute ( hoping to get full refund when HAL cancels on you) or do as you describe in your OP. Forget about perks etc as there won't be any sailing IMHO in May .

[Janet76]

Our flight is canceled but have to use credit by Feb 28, 2021 which doesn’t work for Alaska 2021 season and the price is so much higher next year than what we paid this year.  I guess it’s a flush.  

[CruiserBruce]

52 minutes ago, conwakr said:

If you are cancelled you will get a refund.  Hard to say what will happen with things changing so fast. HAL leadership is no more omnipotent than we are.  Parts of the Jones act could be temporarily halted so trips could originate from the US is only one possibility.  The virus could wane by then and Canadian ports could reopen...who can say. Only you can decide whether you can wait and see and if not, then yes, you can cancel. 

The Jones Act has nothing to do with cruising. It is the PVSA...remember the "P" stands for "passenger".

[AlanF65]

1 hour ago, Janet76 said:

What is the hold up then,  HAL needs to make up their decision.

we have til 19th of March to cancel. 

Last week HAL extended the cancel deadline to July 31 with 48 hour notice It is posted on the board and on the blog. Your deadline date has moved. Current cruisers of canceled cruises that haven't begun to travel to a port are 100% cash refund or 125% FCC. They have made a few public announcements that they are aware of Alaska sailing but wont deal with it until they get everyone that is currently cruising or about to cruise home and taken care off.

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/topics/news/extension-of-short-term-changes-to-cancellation-policy-to-july-31-2020/

To fully support guests on the cruises that were cancelled for this weekend and who are in transit, Holland America Line kindly requests that all those booked on cruises next week or later do not call reservations for assistance this weekend as hold times are expected to be very long. The line will be automatically working through the bookings of all impacted guests based on departure date and will send communications in the coming week regarding their options. We sincerely thank everyone for their patience and understanding.

 

 

 

[utahtea]

5 hours ago, Janet76 said:

Funny thing is HAL and other lines are accepting  May and June Alaska Cruise from Vancouver.  What is this all about.  Is this indicating HAL may change Vancouver Port to Seattle?  We specifically booked roundtrip from Vancouver because we wanted to sail inner passage from Vancouver.  

 

We are booked and past final payment on our June Alaska cruise.  Holland has mentioned that they will be updating the website and as you can imagine....they are very busy at this moment.  I'm sure HAL is working first on the people who are within the 30 day total cancelation policy and that's a LOT of people and plans....then they will work on ours.  

 

I don't see how any cruise line (not just HAL)  can get around not being able to port in Canada since they need a foreign port so even departing from Seattle isn't going to work for the Alaska cruise.  But that's just my though. 

 

Utahtea

Edited March 16, 2020 by utahtea

[The Beaver]

1 hour ago, Janet76 said:

Our flight is canceled but have to use credit by Feb 28, 2021 which doesn’t work for Alaska 2021 season and the price is so much higher next year than what we paid this year.  I guess it’s a flush.  

Do you have to travel by Feb 28 2021 or Feb 28 2021 is the deadline for you to do a booking?

Two different things.

[CruiserBruce]

9 minutes ago, The Beaver said:

Do you have to travel by Feb 28 2021 or Feb 28 2021 is the deadline for you to do a booking?

Two different things.

Usually you have to commit the credit by that date, not actually fly.

[Janet76]

Travel by feb 28, 2021.  

[Reagan0712]

14 hours ago, Janet76 said:

We have May Alaska in/out of Vancouver.  Canada says no cruise ship until July 1.  My cruise is fully paid now.  If I  cancel by March 19th, HAL says I still can get a full cash refund minus $350 which will be applied as FCC.  I did not purchase Cruise Protection Program.  Should I cancel now?  I want cash refund rather than FCC but at the same time I do not want to lose perks that came with current booking.  We have $600 OBC which is not transferrable. 

 

Janet 

Did you get an email from HAL?  I have a Land/Sea in May. The sea portion starts May 17th.  We booked through a TA.  Haven’t heard from HAL or TA.

[Janet76]

No, still waiting.  

[Reagan0712]

1 minute ago, Janet76 said:

No, still waiting.  

Then did you call HAL to find out you had a set date to cancel for refund plus $350?