Rebooking for 15 months time

[Traderboy]

We have decided to amend our September 2020 cruise until September 2021.

Our final balance was due in May and it seemed better to avoid paying this.
Our only disadvantage is that we have lost our special deal price for 2020 and the OBC we received.

Overall we are happy.

What do others plan to do in similar circumstances?

 

[Colo Cruiser]

6 minutes ago, Traderboy said:

We have decided to amend our September 2020 cruise until September 2021.

Our final balance was due in May and it seemed better to avoid paying this.
Our only disadvantage is that we have lost our special deal price for 2020 and the OBC we received.

Overall we are happy.

What do others plan to do in similar circumstances?

 

Keep watching the cruise fare and promos.

I agree book now and........

There is bound to be some better deals by the time you cruise next year that you can take advantage of.

[jhannah]

Perhaps cancel and get your deposit back. Don't re-book yet. I would think they will be running great specials later on to entice cruisers to come back. Just a thought.

Edited to add ... like Colo Cruiser said! We were posting at the same time!

Edited March 26, 2020 by jhannah

[voljeep]

re-book now with a refundable deposit to secure the cabin you want … then follow cruise fares / promotions and re-fare, rebook when those happen 

 

direct with Princess or thru a TA ?

[Traderboy]

We booked with a TA.

 

If we hadn't rebooked another cruise then they expected us to pay up the full balance now for our cruise in September.

This way we have deferred the full payment until May 2021.

Disappointed to lose out on our good deal (and our OBC) but we are happy to have opted out of September 2020 without costing us a penny until May 2021.

Who knows what the climate for cruising may be then There might even be a shortage of supply  as cruisers take back to the water!?

 

[voljeep]

14 minutes ago, Traderboy said:

We booked with a TA.

 

If we hadn't rebooked another cruise then they expected us to pay up the full balance now for our cruise in September.

6 months in advance ??? - what, world cruise ?

 

OK, Cornwall - maybe the rules are different there ...

Edited March 26, 2020 by voljeep

[LACruiser88]

We have 5 future cruises booked that were booked months ago.  We are taking it day to day.  Our next cruise would be on the Enchanted in late October...

[dreamercruise]

If the cruise itinerary is what I want very badly, then I would have done the same.  If it is not on top of my list, then I shall cancel and wait.  Too much anxiety is not worth any savings.  There is always a next to take the cruise.

[13cheermom]

So for those that have gone ahead and re-booked for next year for around same timeframe, do rates seem high right now to most?  For our Alaskan cruise seems really pricey compared to what we booked at last year and it was a couple of months later. Won't do anything until we receive some refunds however just wondered what others have noticed.

[Buckeye10640]

18 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Keep watching the cruise fare and promos.

I agree book now and........

There is bound to be some better deals by the time you cruise next year that you can take advantage of.

Yes...exactly this. I have cruises booked for next year with this new 'Sale' price which really is just the not 'Princess Plus' price. I am hopeful when things finally settle down the previous 3 for Free, Landmark Sale, etc will rotate back into play. If I like it better I will refare. 

[oskidunker]

Have a sept 11 cruise on cunard. They have changed final,pay date to July. I will decide then but not optimistic

[JF - retired RRT]

23 hours ago, Traderboy said:

We booked with a TA.

 

If we hadn't rebooked another cruise then they expected us to pay up the full balance now for our cruise in September.

 

Are you saying you're TA would charge you all the $$ up front UNLESS you booked 2 cruises?

If that's correct, find another TA.

[Roger88]

On 3/26/2020 at 7:52 PM, Traderboy said:

We have decided to amend our September 2020 cruise until September 2021.

Our final balance was due in May and it seemed better to avoid paying this.
Our only disadvantage is that we have lost our special deal price for 2020 and the OBC we received.

Overall we are happy.

What do others plan to do in similar circumstances?

 

Have considered that they might offer you some super deal near to the cruise date? Its a standard practice. I am sure a few months prior to departure you will receive an email with some good offer for that cruise. In any case save up some money and relax waiting for the trip 🙂 I am sure it will be very enjoyable. In any case dont hurry to pay for anything yet  

[Traderboy]

Yes the TA wanted us to pay the full balance for our September 2020 cruise in order to be able to  move it to a year later!

The balance was due in May 2020. 

Now of course our final balance date is May 2021.

I am happy to have kept my money in the bank.

[Northumberland]

We were booked on the Emerald Princess March 30th cruise that got cancelled. We chose option 1 and decided to rebook the same itinerary on the Star Princess for January 2021. 

We would have waited, but there was a specific stateroom that we wanted and decided to pull the trigger before someone else did.

[susancruzs]

I have a deal for my Aug. Baltic/Sept. TA, I haven't cancelled "yet".  Sailing single, never had this, $550. OBC, drinks, gratuities, balcony cabin, great price.   My final payment is 60 days out, instead of usual 120 days for long cruises.

 

If I cancel or they cancel close to the date and there is FCC involved, I could put it towards my April 2021 Enchanted cruise.

[satxdiver]

We were to be on the Ruby next month which of course has been canceled.  We booked the same cruise for 2021 (more $$) using some of our FCD we have.  To do this we had to cancel a cruise we had scheduled for that approximate time.  We always book when the cruise is first announced to get the cabin we want and then monitor the prices until final payment and refare as the opportunity arises.  

 

Back during the great recession of 2008-2009 we had a cruise booked that we felt was not good for us at the time.  We had booked through a local TA.  He charged us to cancel the cruise ~$50 as I recall.  It was the last cruise we ever booked through him.  We had several future Princess cruises booked through him but Princess graciously took the bookings back and we have pretty much been booking through Princess.  

[Traderboy]

It is interesting to read how others have reacted to this same situation.

 

i think that the FCC route is only helpful if you are sure that you will be going on a future Princess cruise - or it is available on other cruise brands as well?

[ROWSE]

We had our May 4, British Isles Regal cancelled and took Option 1 with 150% in FCC. 

We decided we could move vacation time, and I rebooked the same cruise on the Regal for late September this year hoping cruises will be back to somewhat normal by then and this won't be cancelled also. 

 

Since it is taking quite a long time for FCC to show for anyone, it is making me nervous as I want to use that 

FCC on this cruise.  Fingers are crossed the FCC is on my account by our June final payment date.  Hoping if it isn't, that our TA can work it through with Princess.  I REALLY don't want to give Princess another huge amount of money when they already have so much now in limbo.  We do have another cruise booked in late Jan. 2021, but will think hard

about cancelling the September one if they won't be able to use my FCC.  

[mistyPA]

On 3/26/2020 at 1:19 PM, voljeep said:

re-book now with a refundable deposit to secure the cabin you want … then follow cruise fares / promotions and re-fare, rebook when those happen 

 

direct with Princess or thru a TA ?

 

Yes this is what we are doing. Still want to continue to cruise and enjoy vacationing. 

[13cheermom]

21 hours ago, satxdiver said:

We were to be on the Ruby next month which of course has been canceled.  We booked the same cruise for 2021 (more $$) using some of our FCD we have.  To do this we had to cancel a cruise we had scheduled for that approximate time.  We always book when the cruise is first announced to get the cabin we want and then monitor the prices until final payment and refare as the opportunity arises.  

 

Same dilemma for us, if we tried to re-book our Alaskan cruise next year same time we would have to cancel our Carnival Mardi Gras cruise already booked same timeframe.  That cruise was already originally cancelled from October of this year and we had to re-book and transfer FCC, don't really want to mess with that booking again, lol.  We also try to book ahead and get our desired cabin and monitor prices and reface regardless of whichever cruise line we book so we maintain control of it.  Just waiting now to get this refund so we can move forward and re-book, hopefully things won't be gone by then.

[satxdiver]

22 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

Same dilemma for us, if we tried to re-book our Alaskan cruise next year same time we would have to cancel our Carnival Mardi Gras cruise already booked same timeframe.  That cruise was already originally cancelled from October of this year and we had to re-book and transfer FCC, don't really want to mess with that booking again, lol.  We also try to book ahead and get our desired cabin and monitor prices and reface regardless of whichever cruise line we book so we maintain control of it.  Just waiting now to get this refund so we can move forward and re-book, hopefully things won't be gone by then.

 

We sail on CCL out of Galveston since we can drive there (~4 hours on Interstate highways).  I have found them to be extremely difficult to change a cruise much less cancel losing $$.  I also have found them very difficult to schedule a cruise so I have resorted to using a TA and let them fight with CCL.  If we could not drive to the port, we would never go on CCL.  I have found Princess very easy to deal with so that is our major cruise line.  I don't blame you for not wanting to deal with CCL.