So if this happens is that the end of the Mediterranean cruises?

[kernow]

30 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Already begun in Spain, as Madrid lockdown was slightly lifted.

 

https://www.stltoday.com/news/world/hundreds-of-thousands-return-to-work-as-spain-relaxes-coronavirus-lockdown/article_013ab6f3-399e-5f62-b03f-be482674a3a7.html

Your link wouldn't open for me but from what I've read most people still have to stay at home and it's a long way from allowing anything like cruising.

[nelblu]

47 minutes ago, kernow said:

Your link wouldn't open for me but from what I've read most people still have to stay at home and it's a long way from allowing anything like cruising.

Yes, but the door is a bit ajar.  A slow process.

[gatour]

4 hours ago, BP99 said:

In most cruise line contracts, it states that they can change cruise ports at

their discretion. Once I had a phone call from a cruise line that told me that

my Baltic cruise WAS NOT CANCELLED but instead it was going to the

caribbean. I already had hotels, flights etc booked in Europe. Yes, they

can find other ports or miss ports and stay at sea (called a cruise to nowhere).

From my understanding some European countries have laws/regulations similar to the US PVSA laws, that do not allow cruises to nowhere.

 

I find it hard to believe that a Baltic cruise was changed to a Caribbean cruise.  The only exception would be a TA cruise starting here in the states that include some Baltic ports, and disembarking at a European port.

 

Otherwise it would have to sail from some European port to the Caribbean (taking 6-7 days)  stop at some Caribbean ports and the spend another 6-7 days going back to Europe.

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, kernow said:

Your link wouldn't open for me but from what I've read most people still have to stay at home and it's a long way from allowing anything like cruising.

It doesn't open for me either saying EU privacy.

Spain is allowing factory and construction workers back to work but they are still having 700+ deaths a day through coronavirus and hospitals overrun so an influx of tourists is low on their priorities.

Edited April 14, 2020 by grapau27

[ARandomTraveler]

4 hours ago, bhoffman said:

Why did we book with a non refundable deposit? Honestly we didn’t even know there was an option. We booked this upcoming cruise while on another cruise and they never asked if we wanted to or not. Saying that, I’m sure it afforded us a cheaper price (I’m guessing) and we have trip insurance for normal cancellation issues which in this case of course it doesn’t help. It covers the normal issues one might have with travel. So I’m sure we would have booked with the non refundable fare based on that insurance anyway. Silly us, we didn’t see a world wide pandemic coming. I’m less concerned with the $750 deposit then the $13,000 in air fare we have Booked to get to the cruise although getting the $750 back would be nice too. 

Actually the typical travel insurance most buy (and what you bought), do not in fact cover “normal cancellation issues,” they actually cover things far more rare than what most people encounter, which is why it’s virtually worthless insurance unless the only reason you’re buying it is for emergencies and are otherwise comfortable and ok losing thousands of dollars for any other cancellation reason. 
 

Next time buy “cancel for any reason” insurance which refunds you 75% of your non refundable expenses for ANY reason, including, but not limited to, not wanting to travel during a pandemic. Far more common things occur like having a good friend or family member send you an invitation to a wedding that falls during your trip, or one of your kids getting into a major summer program or internship that overlaps with the trip, or getting in a fight with your traveling companion and not wanting to travel with them anymore, or a hurricane damaged the island you were most looking forward to and now you don’t want to take the cruise because you can’t take that tour/visit that beach bar/or don't want to travel to an island whose infrastructure is damaged. All of those reasons are far more likely to come up than the ones you’re covered for with that regular trip insurance you bought, which only covers things like death, jury duty, losing your job, or needing emergency medical evacuation. 

Edited April 14, 2020 by ARandomTraveler

[BP99]

34 minutes ago, gatour said:

From my understanding some European countries have laws/regulations similar to the US PVSA laws, that do not allow cruises to nowhere.

 

I find it hard to believe that a Baltic cruise was changed to a Caribbean cruise.  The only exception would be a TA cruise starting here in the states that include some Baltic ports, and disembarking at a European port.

 

Otherwise it would have to sail from some European port to the Caribbean (taking 6-7 days)  stop at some Caribbean ports and the spend another 6-7 days going back to Europe.

Hi,

YUP it happened. Yes, I found it as "hard to believe" as you did. It was a long time ago

and I don't remember the ships involved. We have done over 46 cruises (most 2 weeks or longer) and have done the Baltic's twice. It's tough to remember each one!  We were fortunate to find another Baltic cruise that was within a few days of our switched one.

They also refunded us fully (unlike some cruise lines I know). It was another cruise line 

leaving from another port (Amsterdam instead of Southampton ???  I think? I am

not sure of the all the rules and regulations of cruise ships. You definitely sound

more informed than I. I tried finding all my old computer files but I think I've gone

through several computers since then. 

[Artisticgirl]

How long before they Cancel Celebrity June cruises?   I have a cruise June 12th that I paid in full.   I'm waiting to see if they cancel because I really need a REFUND not a CREDIT. 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Artisticgirl

[dani negreanu]

7 hours ago, grapau27 said:

In the UK all our deposits are 

Non Refundable.

I don't think any of us thought this would ever happen.

 

Just curious, Graham, wouldn't be preferable for you to book with a TA in US, and have the option of a refundable deposit?

 

I'm using a TA in US for this flexibility 😁.

 

 

[kernow]

4 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Just curious, Graham, wouldn't be preferable for you to book with a TA in US, and have the option of a refundable deposit?

 

I'm using a TA in US for this flexibility 😁.

 

 

I'm not Graham but also from the UK. We mostly book in the UK because we get much more protection if anything goes wrong as bookings in UK are protected by ABTA.

We were never more thankful for that when back in Feb we were due to fly to Singapore to cruise on Quantum. We had booked the whole package through a UK ta and were able to cancel less than a week before we were due to fly, we had a full refund just over a week later. RCL eventually cancelled the cruise just 4 days before it was due to sail but we would have already been in Singapore if we had waited for that. There are still some people in the US  (and Australia) that are still waiting for the cruise refund and some that completely lost the money they paid for airfare. There are some advantages to UK bookings.

[dani negreanu]

7 minutes ago, kernow said:

There are some advantages to UK bookings.

 

Thanks. I'm sure there are.

 

Just thinking that in the "long run", apart from a BK, which I couldn't, until "Corona", think it will happen, living in a "volatile" country like ours, I'd much prefer the flexibility of having a refundable deposit, and taking insurance for medical reasons only.

 

I also book flights on "regular" airlines, and hotels with "free cancellation".  For the 1st April Apex cruise, which I cancelled with the CWC, I even had the transfer with National Express from Southampton to Heathrow booked with a "free cancellation" rate. I've just received the full refund yesterday.

 

[grapau27]

38 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Just curious, Graham, wouldn't be preferable for you to book with a TA in US, and have the option of a refundable deposit?

 

I'm using a TA in US for this flexibility 😁.

 

 

Usually we don't book anything until Pauline gets her holidays confirmed.

We know what we want and book it.

In the UK we have ABTA and ATOL protection and a TA I know and trust.

Thanks for the helpful advice though.

[zonacruiser25]

17 hours ago, kernow said:

I don't think there will be any cruises in Europe this summer. The governments in Europe seem to have much stricter lockdowns than you have in the US and I think they will only be lifted very, very gradually. Cruising and international travel generally will be one of the last things to come back and I get the impression that will take many months.

I believe the bigger issue may just be the ability to fly into the departure port at all or without a quarantine period.   

[welshrich]

It will be interesting to see how long this goes on for and whether  the ships come over to Europe for the summer season, there must be a date when it's just not worth them sailing over to do a few cruises and then go back, if they don't is there capacity in the Caribbean for all the extra ships?   Personally I really hope they do come over as we have a TA cruise back to the US and have already had 2 cruises cancelled, but, better safe than sorry.