Cruise ship bookings for 2021 are already on the rise despite multiple COVID-19 outbreaks

[lenquixote66]

8 minutes ago, clo said:

I usually work to just copy as little as possible when 'quoting' but every word of this warrants rereading. I know this is (or has been) a cruise board but I think there are some people here who might be a tad overboard. No one has to cruise.  Thanks, NBT, as usual.

Some people believe that cruising is one of life’s necessities .I am not one of them.

[Cruzaholic41]

5 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Some people believe that cruising is one of life’s necessities .I am not one of them.

And if they do, so what?  Some people are getting way too spun up over this (not you). 
 

I’m beginning to think cruises are essential so people can take a break from these boards. 

[Tapi]

Count me as one of the contributors to the increase in cruise sales for 2021 (as well as 2022). 😀

[lenquixote66]

22 minutes ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

And if they do, so what?  Some people are getting way too spun up over this (not you). 
 

I’m beginning to think cruises are essential so people can take a break from these boards. 

I am in bed 21 hours a day.There is very little else for me to do other than to read on my I-pad or post on CC.That is why I urge young people to get the most out of life before they get old and sick.

[Charles4515]

Count me as one of the contributors to the increase in cruise sales for 2021 (as well as 2022). [emoji3]

 

There are always going to be people who fall for what is in effect a scam. Convincing people to rebook the next two years ahead with worthless future cruise certificates. It is going to be very difficult to sell the public on cruises for a long time. The current cruise lines may very well collapse before any or most of those certificates can be redeemed.

 

 

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[JMorris271]

12 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Apparently Royal Caribbean is booking cruises starting the second half of May.  There must be some very optimistic people out there, or else some very liberal cancellation-with-full-refund terms.

Just got an email from RC informing me that they are canceling my June 7, 20 cruise. I think they say they will start back on June 11.

 

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by JMorris271
Spelling

[Tapi]

7 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

 

There are always going to be people who fall for what is in effect a scam. Convincing people to rebook the next two years ahead with worthless future cruise certificates. It is going to be very difficult to sell the public on cruises for a long time. The current cruise lines may very well collapse before any or most of those certificates can be redeemed.

The cruises that I have booked are not with FCC’s, but with minimal deposits ($50pp). No more payments required for another year. We will hopefully know before then what the state of the industry truly is. In the meantime, I’m just continuing my regular practice of researching and booking my vacations well in advance. It brings me happiness, which is probably a good thing to have these days. 
 

Everything is pure speculation at the present time. Cruise lines may collapse. Maybe. Or maybe not. FCC’s will be useless. Maybe. Or maybe not. It’s a scam. Maybe. Or maybe not. It’s going to be difficult to sell the public on cruises. Maybe. Or maybe not. I’m not going to debate with either side because nobody truly knows. 

[K32682]

This would be the cruise industry whistling past the graveyard.  It's no surprise bookings are "up."  Were I holding shaky paper in a cruise line (aka FCC) I'd book something right away to thwart a massive fare hike next year.  Also if I had a booking in place it would put me higher on the priority list if itineraries changed which they likely will.  I'd get to cruise before someone with FCC who hadn't booked.     

[Tapi]

American Airlines announced an increase in bookings beyond the 90 day mark, as well as a ramp up of their late summer schedules as demand starts returning. Based on that, I don’t think it’s ingenuous to think that cruise bookings for 2021 could truly be up as well. 

[Charles4515]

American Airlines announced an increase in bookings beyond the 90 day mark, as well as a ramp up of their late summer schedules as demand starts returning. Based on that, I don’t think it’s ingenuous to think that cruise bookings for 2021 could truly be up as well. 

There is a need for air travel. The airlines are being bailed out. The cruise industry is not being bailed out. There is no necessity for cruises.


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[iancal]

The only way I would consider booking a future cruise is if there was no deposit required.

 

I would not give any cruise line a dime of my money at this point.

 

If I had the choice between an FCC and a refund I would take the refund.  At the same time I would be checking my credit card issuers rules for disputing a payment-namely my deposit payment.

 

Not interested in buying a pig in a poke. We see little joy in booking or planning for a later summer or fall cruise that will in all likelihood be cancelled.  Even if it is not cancelled we would not be interested.  

 

This entire book, take FCC, then re-book is a gong show.  The cruise lines goal seems to be to provide their customers with unrealistic sail  expections, convince customers to settle for FCC's, create a sense of urgency for those who have FCC to book future cruises in case they change their minds and subsequently decide on a refund.  And then have the nerve to tell them that they cannot use FCC for future cruise deposits and that they must pony up with cruise deposits regardless of their FCC balance.  Really.....how much sense does this make?

Edited April 17, 2020 by iancal

[clo]

5 hours ago, Tapi said:

continuing my regular practice of researching and booking my vacations well in advance.

Does that include non-cruises?

[clo]

4 hours ago, Tapi said:

American Airlines announced an increase in bookings beyond the 90 day mark, as well as a ramp up of their late summer schedules as demand starts returning. Based on that, I don’t think it’s ingenuous to think that cruise bookings for 2021 could truly be up as well. 

And Lufthansa just announced that it's going to take years for airlines to recover 🙂

[Tapi]

7 minutes ago, clo said:

And Lufthansa just announced that it's going to take years for airlines to recover 🙂

That’s a true statement. It will take years for airlines to return to what they were in 2019. Even the CEO’s for US based airlines have admitted that they will be back “smaller and leaner”. But while a “full” recovery is years away, a gradual recovery is not, and that‘s what American is referring to with their announcement; a gradual recovery as demand slowly picks up again. 

[iancal]

I am quite certain that we will back to independent overseas land travel long before we will be booking or taking our next cruise.

[clo]

12 minutes ago, iancal said:

I am quite certain that we will back to independent overseas land travel long before we will be booking or taking our next cruise.

By "we" do you mean your family unit? If so, that's how we feel. We were never avid cruisers and returned to it a couple of years ago as the only way to 'do' Antarctica. Loved Hurtigruten so booked a Norwegian coastal cruise. Then Oceania for the Rio/BA start/finish. Then felt a little hooked. But this event has allowed us to step back and ponder.  We pretty much have decided we'll be happier doing two or three cities/destinations.

[ilikeanswers]

19 minutes ago, iancal said:

I am quite certain that we will back to independent overseas land travel long before we will be booking or taking our next cruise.

 

I think with all the changes that will come to the travel industry in general independent travel is the most practical in the forseeable future as it is a flexible form of travel where you can adjust your itinerary if the situation demands it. Any organised tour is going to have to figure out new procedures and protocols for whatever new regulations countries throw at them. Personally I don't want to be their guinea pig😳. I would wait for things to stabilise before taking any organised trip.

[XBGuy]

To those who describe the issuance of Future Cruise Credit in compensation a scam, I am going to disagree.

 

I am going on hearsay evidence, so, if I am incorrect, please respond and correct me.

 

My cruising buddy had a May Alaska cruise cancelled by Princess.  He did get a future cruise credit in the amout of 25% of the passage fare of his cancelled cruise, but this was in addition to a 100% refund to his credit card of all costs that he had paid.  He was made whole.  The future cruise credit was (take your choice)

 

• Additional compensation for the cancellation.
• Apology for the cancellation.
• Incentive to book a future cruise on Princess.

I see no fraud, here.  I do see salesmanship, but if salesmanship is illegal or, even, frowned upon, then the entire capitalistic system is in serious trouble.

 

Now, for those who feel that Princess will go out of business and, therefore, future cruise credits are worthless, I have to point out, that my friend has his original investment back.  He has suffered no damage.  Where is the fraud?

[iancal]

Definitely not a scam.  But a great marketing program.  Nothing is hidden.  Cruisers have a choice.  Pick one and move forward.  From our perspective it is not worth locking ourselves in to an FCC (and a cruise line), and a timeframe.

Edited April 17, 2020 by iancal

[ilikeanswers]

9 hours ago, XBGuy said:

He did get a future cruise credit in the amout of 25% of the passage fare of his cancelled cruise, but this was in addition to a 100% refund to his credit card of all costs that he had paid.  He was made whole.  The future cruise credit was (take your choice)

 

From what I have read customers are not getting refunds plus cruise credit they are getting the cost of their cancelled cruise as cruise credit sometimes with additional credit added to incentivise customer not to go for the cash refund. Your friend's deal actually sounds pretty good. 

 

Calling it a scam is probably an exaggeration but I do think it is a little unethical to be hard selling people not to get a cash refund considering there is no way to know what the industry will look like at the end of this. 

Edited April 18, 2020 by ilikeanswers

[K32682]

Although not quite a "scam" the FCC is being heavily promoted because it's a debt on the books for the cruise companies instead of an immediate hit on cash flow.

 

There are two risks with the FCC with the first being that the cruise line goes through bankruptcy protection and your FCC is rendered worthless.  The second risk is that the cash value of your FCC that covered a specific itinerary will only cover half of it due to fare increases when the travel restrictions are lifted. 

[Cruzaholic41]

On 4/16/2020 at 6:35 PM, Tapi said:

Count me as one of the contributors to the increase in cruise sales for 2021 (as well as 2022). 😀

Same here. I recently booked Apex for next year. I suspect there are more, but just won’t speak up out of fear the “usuals” will jump all over them. 

[XBGuy]

15 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

From what I have read customers are not getting refunds plus cruise credit they are getting the cost of their cancelled cruise as cruise credit sometimes with additional credit added to incentivise customer not to go for the cash refund. Your friend's deal actually sounds pretty good. 

 

Calling it a scam is probably an exaggeration but I do think it is a little unethical to be hard selling people not to get a cash refund considering there is no way to know what the industry will look like at the end of this. 

 

The case I referenced was for a Princess cruise.  My friend was offered a choice:

• 100% cash refund plus a future cruise credit of 25% of his cruise fare

or

• A 150% future cruise credit--and it is not clear to me whether that 150% was calculated on his total expenditure or on just the cruise passage.

He, being a smart guy, took the cash plus the 25% future cruise credit.

 

I do not know if the other cruise lines offered choices similar that offered by Princess.

 

However, I am familiar with the tendency of many internet board posters to leave out details when they are making a complaint.  Of the posts that I have read, here on Cruise Critic describing peoples' cancellation experience, many will reference that they "picked option 1" or they "picked the FCC option."  Sometimes they don't.  Does that mean they did not have a choice, and their only alternative was to take the offered future cruise credit?  Could be, but, also, could not be.  I cannot recall a post where the poster explicitly indicated that there was no option of getting a cash refund.  Maybe there was.

 

Also, though, my friend did not get any kind of "hard sell" to take the 150% future cruise credit instead of the cash.

[gerryuk]

I waited in the port of Dubai for 12 hours before Costa cancelled the cruise. The cruise was Abu Dhabi to Savona in Italy, Abu Dhabi closed their port so it was off to Dubai to catch the ship.

I was offered either my money back or a FCC. They tried their best to get me to accept the FCC, I eventually declined and asked for my money back.

I was willing to take a FCC for the exact same cruise next year, however they wanted me to pay a additional 500 more for the same cabin next year.

Now to me this FCC is a scam, I could pay the additional £500 only to see in the coming months the price of the cabin come down considerably, they often do, I would then end up out of pocket, the cruise line will just be as well sticking two fingers up to me, more fool me for accepting. I also don't want to play Russian roulette with my money, if the cruise line goes belly up then I will loose my original sum plus the additional 500, I am not a charity.

I would have more faith in these lines if you were offered a FCC for the same itinerary and cabin at a later date, at no extra charge. I think more people would accept a FCC under these circumstances than what they are offering now. 

I am told that Costa will be paying out refunds at the end of April, something tells me that just before they pay out, my email will be bulging from Costa with better attractive deals, trying to lure me and others to accept a FCC, I will wait and see. 

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by gerryuk

[XBGuy]

18 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Calling it a scam is probably an exaggeration but I do think it is a little unethical to be hard selling people not to get a cash refund considering there is no way to know what the industry will look like at the end of this. 

 

Apologies, but while on my mid-day constitutional after posting my previous response, I realized that I should have added this.

 

If, in fact, people have been denied a cash refund for a cruise cancelled by the cruise company, I would say that is not only beyond ethical, it is beyond legal.  Close reading of the passage contract would be required to determine whether or not I correct in that.