Uniworld River cruise cancellation

[agidor63]

Does anyone find it strange that in the middle of a pandemic Uniworld has not cancelled their river cruises to France in June?   All of their competitors have.  We are booked for a June cruise and they are insisting it is still a go.  Talked to the 800 number and they are of no use other then use your insurance policy to cancel.  These are unusual times and unusual circumstances.  It seems they are putting the almighty dollar ahead of their customers.

[dolllover]

Wow that's terrible telling you to use your insurance policy to cancel. I have a trip to Italy in Sept and haven't been thrilled with them as well. Other lines are extending final payment but they insist I have to make it 4 months before leaving and with the mess Italy is in it's hard to believe it's a go in Sept. 

[Cheekyrn1]

We also have a cruise with them in September to China ..we really do not want to go for numerous reasons. The obvious of course is the virus ...but also with Us not working full time right now the question is will we have enough vacation time left to be gone for 3 weeks? And then when things go back to full time will we even be able to take vacation time because hopefully we will be busy?     We cannot accept a FCC because we already have vacations planned and scheduled for 2021 and 2022...so much uncertainty 

[S Calif cruiser]

We have 2-leg France Uniworld cruises embarking May 10. France is shut down until at least May 11th. Our Air France Flight leaving May 3 has been cancelled but return flight on May 27 is not. We have heard nothing from Uniworld or our travel agent. Uniworld also booked our flights but only found out about the cancelled flight by logging into Air France website. We are so disappointed in the lack of communication from Uniworld. My guess is that they want us to be the ones to cancel. We have never sailed with Uniworld before but our opinion of them has gone downhill fast. If we don’t get a refund we will fight it. 

[TFree]

We had a Uniworld Danube cruise departing June 7.  We have been watching both Uniworld and our airline (DL/KLM) very closely.  Our cruise mates decided to just cancel the Uniworld cruise and did so last week.  Uniworld (through our travel agent) made it very attractive for us to transfer the June 2020 cruise to a longer (and more expensive) cruise in May, 2021, while charging us less than half the difference in cost.  So we changed to the May 2021 cruise, and now we are just waiting for Delta to waive cancellation fees past May 31.

 

For a long time, Uniworld had only cancelled European cruises through April 23.  Just within the past few days, it seems they have also (quietly) cancelled another couple of weeks of cruises, into the second week of May.  My feeling is that they are only cancelling a couple of weeks at a time, because they don't know when it will be feasible to start cruising again.  I don't blame them for that, although obviously it would make for simpler planning if they just bit off a bigger chunk of time.

 

Tom & Judy

[iMarco46]

How quickly things change.

 

From a promise of a cash refund (minus admin fees) at T-minus 30-days in late Feb:

 

To the current situation -- is Uniworld actually claiming the right to change the policy again at any time they see fit?

 

https://www.uniworld.com/en/already-booked/travel-information/

TEMPORARY POLICY UPDATES

2020 Cancellation Policy (updated March 27th)^*
Guests can cancel up to 14 days prior to their departure and rebook with price protection for 2020 or 2021 departures (like for like, excluding September), or receive a Future Cruise Credit to be used in 2020, 2021 or 2022 departures. Airfares booked through Uniworld are subject to airline cancellation fees. Guests also have the option to rebook with one of our Travel Corporation sister brands for 2020, 2021 or 2022.
^*Revised cancellation policy as of March 27th, 2020. This supersedes all previous cancellation policies and is subject to change.

 

 

 

 

[jpalbny]

10 hours ago, TFree said:

now we are just waiting for Delta to waive cancellation fees past May 31.

 

I think that finally happened yesterday.

 

https://www.delta.com/us/en/advisories/coronavirus-travel/cancel-change-requirements

 

We had a China trip planned for June and our tour company allowed us to postpone (deposit is still with them, but they deferred final payment). So I have also been watching and waiting for this so we could cancel or change the flights without penalty.

[TFree]

On 4/15/2020 at 3:58 AM, jpalbny said:

 

I think that finally happened yesterday.

 

https://www.delta.com/us/en/advisories/coronavirus-travel/cancel-change-requirements

 

We had a China trip planned for June and our tour company allowed us to postpone (deposit is still with them, but they deferred final payment). So I have also been watching and waiting for this so we could cancel or change the flights without penalty.

Thank you for pointing out that DL has now extended waivers through June.  My TA tells me that they have (1) waived change fees (but this won't help as we can't now re-book for May, 2021, because the schedule only goes out to March); (2) they would price protect for a future booking even if we can't book the dates yet, but only if the itinerary is exactly the same (in our case it won't be exactly the same, so that does not work for us); and (3) they will allow cancellation without penalty, but will only give future flight credit, not cash refund.

We have decided to wait a couple weeks to see if Delta or KLM cancel any of the 4 flights in the itinerary, in which case we should be able to get a cash refund.  I don't really mind future flight credit, but a cash refund would allow us to shop for new flights when the time comes without being locked in to Delta/KLM.  The first flight in the itinerary leaves June 3, so we can still wait a little while to see what happens.

 

Tom & Judy

[Heartfelttraveler]

TFree - Our Delta June 1 ATL - FLR with the return June 25 ZUR - ATL was cancelled today.  Since they cancelled I had my choice of accepting new flights the same day, rescheduling for new dates, a Delta voucher for the cost of the flights or COMPLETE REFUND.  I had actually planned to cancel yesterday because everything on our itinerary had already been cancelled (some by them, some by us).  Thankfully I was too tired last night and woke up with a cancellation from Delta.  We took the complete refund.  (We have two more trips planned for 2020 but already have purchased our airfare.)  Delta said it will take up to 21 days to process the refund and then our charge card company can take up to two billing cycles to actually show.

 

Hopefully we will see our refund from the river cruise company within the same time frame.

[TFree]

10 minutes ago, Heartfelttraveler said:

TFree - Our Delta June 1 ATL - FLR with the return June 25 ZUR - ATL was cancelled today.  Since they cancelled I had my choice of accepting new flights the same day, rescheduling for new dates, a Delta voucher for the cost of the flights or COMPLETE REFUND.  I had actually planned to cancel yesterday because everything on our itinerary had already been cancelled (some by them, some by us).  Thankfully I was too tired last night and woke up with a cancellation from Delta.  We took the complete refund.  (We have two more trips planned for 2020 but already have purchased our airfare.)  Delta said it will take up to 21 days to process the refund and then our charge card company can take up to two billing cycles to actually show.

 

Hopefully we will see our refund from the river cruise company within the same time frame.

 

Interesting.  Our DL flights are June 3 (BOS-AMS) and June 16 (AMS-LAX).  The two KLM flights on the itinerary are AMS-PRG on June 4 and BUD-AMS on June 16.  We will see what happens, although I think both DL flights are pretty major routes, so they may try to avoid cancelling them until relatively late.  

 

Tom & Judy

[TFree]

17 hours ago, TFree said:

 

Interesting.  Our DL flights are June 3 (BOS-AMS) and June 16 (AMS-LAX).  The two KLM flights on the itinerary are AMS-PRG on June 4 and BUD-AMS on June 16.  We will see what happens, although I think both DL flights are pretty major routes, so they may try to avoid cancelling them until relatively late.  

 

Tom & Judy

Just to follow up in case anybody else is in a similar situation, the whole itinerary was booked with Delta, but the two intra-Europe segments (AMS-PRG and BUD-AMS) are operated by KLM.  It appears to me from the KLM website that both KLM flights have been cancelled, but there is no indication of this in our Delta online accounts.  It looks like KLM has cancelled the flights in question for the entire month of June. 

Since our flights don't leave for 1.5 months, we can continue to wait for this info to get reflected by Delta, which will presumably have to notify us or our TA.  

 

Tom & Judy

[Ride-The-Waves]

Uniworld has changed its cancellation/FCC/reschedule polices at least 4-5 time since early March.  Very frustrating for a company we once enjoyed cruising.

 

I guess its really our fault for believing in Uniworld and following their payment policies.  We provided a final payment in January for a June cruise totaling $20,000.  Cruising through France this June is a non-starter.  France is "closed" to tourism for the foreseeable future.  Uniworld is still using our original sailing date as the basis for cancellation fees, now at 100 percent if canceled in May.  Or, take an FCC and lets just add several thousand more dollars to the same cruise in 2021.  No other options.  We have sailed with Uniworld half a dozen times in Europe and China.  So what.  Uniworld has our money and they are not offering anything realistic in return.  Unbelievable.  Caveat Emptor.

[dolllover]

Won't your TA go to bat for you if you have one. At the very least they should try to get Uniworld to match your cancelled cruise with a future one price wise. Uniworld really seems to be handling this crisis poorly. I have a final payment due next month so trying to decide if I should eat the cost of my flights booked thru Uniworld and just try to to get my deposit back instead of giving them more money.

[kent9xxx1]

7 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Uniworld has changed its cancellation/FCC/reschedule polices at least 4-5 time since early March.  Very frustrating for a company we once enjoyed cruising.

 

I guess its really our fault for believing in Uniworld and following their payment policies.  We provided a final payment in January for a June cruise totaling $20,000.  Cruising through France this June is a non-starter.  France is "closed" to tourism for the foreseeable future.  Uniworld is still using our original sailing date as the basis for cancellation fees, now at 100 percent if canceled in May.  Or, take an FCC and lets just add several thousand more dollars to the same cruise in 2021.  No other options.  We have sailed with Uniworld half a dozen times in Europe and China.  So what.  Uniworld has our money and they are not offering anything realistic in return.  Unbelievable.  Caveat Emptor.

 

Just wait for them to cancel the cruise on their own, at that point, you can request money back or them putting you on another cruise for the same price.  Realistically, they cannot operate in June in France.

[agidor63]

We have cancelled!  We are taking a monetary “hit”, we will never cruise Uniworld again.  Our TA is fit to be tied.  Thank goodness for travel insurance.  We emailed the president/ceo of Uniworld and have not received a response.  They don’t care about the customer they care about the dollar.  So sad, since they are suppose to be a premier River boat cruise line.  Now we wait for Delta to cancel the flight.

[radioman]

7 hours ago, agidor63 said:

We have cancelled!  We are taking a monetary “hit”, we will never cruise Uniworld again.  Our TA is fit to be tied.  Thank goodness for travel insurance.  We emailed the president/ceo of Uniworld and have not received a response.  They don’t care about the customer they care about the dollar.  So sad, since they are suppose to be a premier River boat cruise line.  Now we wait for Delta to cancel the flight.

 

 

Please explain how you are using your travel insurance?  Did you book your insurance via Uniworld?   Thanks

Edited April 18, 2020 by radioman
BTW another board on Cruise Critic on same subject.https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2738406-uniworld-cancel-policy-update-covid-19/

[Ride-The-Waves]

Uniworld is part of The Travel Corporation which is owns numerous travel agencies, hotels and tour operators.  Likely the privately held company is hemorrhaging money at the moment and Uniworld may be its only "cash cow" left with the possibility of generating income.  Sad to see what is a good company dragged down like this.  

[TFree]

I am puzzled by some of the inconsistent responses Uniworld has given, according to things posted on this thread.  I think we were treated pretty fairly, although I do tend to agree that Uniworld (by now) should have cancelled more cruises than they have done.  I still see European cruises scheduled in the second week of May on their website, and it must be obvious to everybody that they are not actually happening.

 

In our case, we had an individual TA affiliated with a big company, who managed to negotiate a discount for us on our June 7 Enchanting Danube cruise equivalent to the "cash card" discount we would have gotten if we had used the big box TA.  That was a significant discount, especially added on to the discount for paying in advance, and for being a prior Uniworld customer.  So we were very happy with our French balcony cabin fare. 

When we decided to cancel this cruise 61 days out (when there was a 35% penalty, as opposed to the 50% penalty that would apply 59 days out), our options were (a) to take the 35% penalty hit and get the 65% back in cash, with the 35% hit usable for a future booking; or (b) to price match to a later comparable cruise (which would have had the effect of locking in the various discounts, including the one designed to "price match" the big box TA).  We said, OK, but what if we wanted to take the 10 day version of this itinerary (Delightful Danube & Prague), including a hotel stay in Prague and a transfer to the ship, rather than the 8 day version we had booked for this year, which would have left us to deal with Prague hotels and a transfer ourselves.  The cash difference in base price for a French balcony on the 10 day cruise for the date we selected in May, 2021, as compared to the base price for our existing 8 day cruise, was $1500 pp.  They agreed to give it to us for an extra $500 pp, with the $1000 not due until January.  We thought this was a great offer, and we took it, which had the effect of locking in all the prior discounts and only charging 1/3 of what should have been the price difference.

So why have some others had so much trouble?  I don't know if this can all be attributable to the quality of the TA, but if not, I am not sure what it is.  If you are determined not to cruise with Uniworld again, then I understand the problem, because they are not offering full cash refunds for cruises they have not yet cancelled (and from the revised terms, they may not offer full cash refunds even if they cancel the cruise between now and the embarkation date).  So for some people, that is a deal-breaker.  But if you are prepared to cruise with them again, our experience has been that they will offer some attractive options.

Tom & Judy

[radioman]

Sounds like a few have found a solution that meets their needs.

As for me I booked in September (with air and insurance) for a May 20 river cruise (air and cruise cancelled).

I would like to have a full cash refund as stated in my contract.

Advanced, Canceled, or Delayed Sailing: Uniworld reserves the right to cancel, advance or postpone any scheduled sailing date and may, but is not obligated to, substitute hotels or vessels. Uniworld shall not be liable for any loss to you by reason of any such cancellation, advancement or postponement. In the event of cancellation by Uniworld, your sole right of recourse shall be to obtain a refund of monies paid to Uniworld in connection with such cruise/tour.

 

[Ride-The-Waves]

On 4/19/2020 at 2:48 PM, TFree said:

I am puzzled by some of the inconsistent responses Uniworld has given, according to things posted on this thread.  I think we were treated pretty fairly, although I do tend to agree that Uniworld (by now) should have cancelled more cruises than they have done.  I still see European cruises scheduled in the second week of May on their website, and it must be obvious to everybody that they are not actually happening.

 

In our case, we had an individual TA affiliated with a big company, who managed to negotiate a discount for us on our June 7 Enchanting Danube cruise equivalent to the "cash card" discount we would have gotten if we had used the big box TA.  That was a significant discount, especially added on to the discount for paying in advance, and for being a prior Uniworld customer.  So we were very happy with our French balcony cabin fare. 

When we decided to cancel this cruise 61 days out (when there was a 35% penalty, as opposed to the 50% penalty that would apply 59 days out), our options were (a) to take the 35% penalty hit and get the 65% back in cash, with the 35% hit usable for a future booking; or (b) to price match to a later comparable cruise (which would have had the effect of locking in the various discounts, including the one designed to "price match" the big box TA).  We said, OK, but what if we wanted to take the 10 day version of this itinerary (Delightful Danube & Prague), including a hotel stay in Prague and a transfer to the ship, rather than the 8 day version we had booked for this year, which would have left us to deal with Prague hotels and a transfer ourselves.  The cash difference in base price for a French balcony on the 10 day cruise for the date we selected in May, 2021, as compared to the base price for our existing 8 day cruise, was $1500 pp.  They agreed to give it to us for an extra $500 pp, with the $1000 not due until January.  We thought this was a great offer, and we took it, which had the effect of locking in all the prior discounts and only charging 1/3 of what should have been the price difference.

So why have some others had so much trouble?  I don't know if this can all be attributable to the quality of the TA, but if not, I am not sure what it is.  If you are determined not to cruise with Uniworld again, then I understand the problem, because they are not offering full cash refunds for cruises they have not yet cancelled (and from the revised terms, they may not offer full cash refunds even if they cancel the cruise between now and the embarkation date).  So for some people, that is a deal-breaker.  But if you are prepared to cruise with them again, our experience has been that they will offer some attractive options.

Tom & Judy

Its just not the financial machinations Uniworld is using, but we are also bumping up against their stated (on the website) policy of following CLIA and CDC guidance.  We are both over 65/70 and will now be required to produce a "fit for sailing" certificate.  Which if viewed strictly, will mean no cruising since I have, under control, several of the medical afflictions mentioned by CLIA and CDC.  Uniworld offered (and its offers are vary dependent on date) FCCs at the same price.  Now they say FCC but send us $1,200 to hold the cabins you selected despite that fact they are "holding" over $16,000 in cruise fare, already paid.  FCC is essentially useless if we cannot meet CLIA and CDC guidance today, much less a year from now.  Additionally, I am finding that travel agents, dependent of monies from cruise fares, are now functioning less as advocates of the passenger and more as advocates of the cruise line.  In our case, the TA wants us to take the FCC and they will then "give us" half of their commission as FCC as well.  

 

Bottom line is that cruise lines and TAs are now in the "so sue us" mode of operating.  Despicable.  The rest of their commission to be paid later...

Edited April 20, 2020 by Ride-The-Waves

[TFree]

4 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Its just not the financial machinations Uniworld is using, but we are also bumping up against their stated (on the website) policy of following CLIA and CDC guidance.  We are both over 65/70 and will now be required to produce a "fit for sailing" certificate.  Which if viewed strictly, will mean no cruising since I have, under control, several of the medical afflictions mentioned by CLIA and CDC.  

I tried to find the list of medical afflictions but could not.  If you have it handy, please post a link.

 

Meanwhile, I got a disconcerting note from my TA today (bear in mind that we switched from a June 2020 cruise to a May, 2021 cruise just a couple weeks ago):

"I was just informed by Uniworld about their cancellation policies for trips that were moved to a new sailing with price protection.

 

From now until April 16, 2021 [one month before the cruise] the cancellation penalty is 50%. After April 17 it's 100%.  ( Please do not go by what is on the invoice that Uniworld sent me)"

 

So in other words, Uniworld sent me an invoice on April 16 showing standard cancellation terms (so, for example, currently we could cancel for a $200 per person penalty), and on April 20 the agent calls for a different question and is told, by the way, the cancellation penalty is not what is shown in the invoice, it is 50% currently.  That is a bit problematic, to say the least.  While I continue to think they made us a fair offer, which we accepted, to move the cruise, I am not happy about the switcheroo on the cancellation policy.

 

Tom & Judy

[gnome12]

I tried to find the list of medical afflictions but could not.  If you have it handy, please post a link.
 
Meanwhile, I got a disconcerting note from my TA today (bear in mind that we switched from a June 2020 cruise to a May, 2021 cruise just a couple weeks ago):

"I was just informed by Uniworld about their cancellation policies for trips that were moved to a new sailing with price protection.
  From now until April 16, 2021 [one month before the cruise] the cancellation penalty is 50%. After April 17 it's 100%.  ( Please do not go by what is on the invoice that Uniworld sent me)"   So in other words, Uniworld sent me an invoice on April 16 showing standard cancellation terms (so, for example, currently we could cancel for a $200 per person penalty), and on April 20 the agent calls for a different question and is told, by the way, the cancellation penalty is not what is shown in the invoice, it is 50% currently.  That is a bit problematic, to say the least.  While I continue to think they made us a fair offer, which we accepted, to move the cruise, I am not happy about the switcheroo on the cancellation policy.   Tom & Judy

While I understand your not liking it, going immediately to a $200 per person cancellation penalty kind of negates what the companies are trying to do; conserve cash. If they did, essentially you would have virtually the full refund they were trying to avoid giving you in the first place.


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[Host Jazzbeau]

No one knows if the CLIA guidelines for over-70 passengers will remain in force once cruising resumes.  Everything is a work in progress at this point.

[Ride-The-Waves]

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-at-higher-risk.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fspecific-groups%2Fhigh-risk-complications.html

CDC: People Who Are at Higher Risk for Severe Illness

COVID-19 is a new disease and there is limited information regarding risk factors for severe disease. Based on currently available information and clinical expertise, older adults and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions might be at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19.

Based on what we know now, those at high-risk for severe illness from COVID-19 are:

• People 65 years and older
• People who live in a nursing home or long-term care facility

People of all ages with underlying medical conditions, particularly if not well controlled, including:

• People with chronic lung disease or moderate to severe asthma
• People who have serious heart conditions
• People who are immunocompromised
  • Many conditions can cause a person to be immunocompromised, including cancer treatment, smoking, bone marrow or organ transplantation, immune deficiencies, poorly controlled HIV or AIDS, and prolonged use of corticosteroids and other immune weakening medications
• People with severe obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 40 or higher)
• People with diabetes
• People with chronic kidney disease undergoing dialysis
• People with liver disease

CLIA:

General Pre-Boarding Health Screening

All embarking persons are to receive pre-boarding health screening, to assist in preventing the spread of communicable diseases.

In light of recent developments related to COVID-19 the policy has been amended with preventative measures applicable to crew and others that board ships while passenger services are suspended. These measures are under constant review. Additional measures applicable to passengers will be considered as the industry approaches resuming passenger operations.

Deny boarding to all persons with severe chronic medical conditions, including those specified by the U.S. CDC https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/high-risk-complications.html

Conduct illness screening for all persons. Illness screening will include symptom history checks for fever, cough and difficulty breathing in the 14 days before embarkation and the taking of the person’s temperature. Any individual with a temperature reading at or above 100.4 degrees F / 38 degrees C is to be denied boarding.

Deny boarding to all persons who, within 14 days prior to embarkation, have had contact with, or helped care for, anyone suspected or diagnosed as having COVID-19, or who are currently subject to health monitoring for possible exposure to COVID-19.

Conduct pre-boarding screening necessary to effectuate these prevention measures. Enhanced screening and initial medical support are to be provided, as needed, to any persons exhibiting symptoms of suspected COVID-19.

This policy may be updated upon approval of the Global Executive Committee to reflect evolving developments and/or guidance from responsible public health authorities. 

 

https://cruising.org/about-the-industry/policy-priorities/cruise-industry-policies/Health

 

[iMarco46]

Flying to France from outside the Schengen zone has become nearly impossible.
https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-france-flights/france-has-stopped-all-flights-outside-schengen-zone-minister-idUSP6N2BO012