Hapag Lloyd Cruises refunds

[MsSommelier]

23 hours ago, directionfinder said:

Prima! When did you send your letter? 

I just saw your cruise was planned in May, my cruise was planned end of march, 

so I might have been earlier in line ....

Danke, directionfinder!

We sent it two weeks ago.  I'm glad we have our money back (they've had the deposit for 2 years).  I just didn't feel comfortable taking a future cruise credit, not knowing when/if we will be able to cruise 'relatively' safely again.

 

BTW, we also send another email to the rueckzahlung@hl-*****, two days before our refund arrived, reminding them again of the pertinent information and referencing our letter to the CEO.

I don't know if that necessarily helped or was just a coincidence....

[Catlover54]

About 10 days ago the HL website added a lot of detailed information about options for cruise refunds,  rebooking, safety plans, thermal sensors on board, etc.

They also sent me a new letter stating that due to popular demand, they added an option to apply deposit payments from cancelled cruises to a future cruise that is already booked ( which had not been offered before), plus 3% of the cruise cost OBC . One had to notify by June 1 if one wanted to do that.

 

So, given Europe is opening up a lot, and U.S. is opening a bit too, and hopefully flights will again be allowed for non-essential travel to Europe and cruising could resume in the fall, I changed my mind, and instead of pursuing a refund, I asked them in an email to apply my substantial deposit from a month on the cancelled Europa cruises to our booking on the Hanseatic inspiration in October, Hamburg to Porto ( which includes 3 port stops for classical music concerts) plus the OBC. They just confirmed, with a new and updated payment receipt.

 

If that is also cancelled, then again they will have to refund all deposits. 
I remain optimistic.  I have no objection to wearing a mask on flights and in potentially crowded public areas.  Despite my many risk factors for potentially not doing well if I were to get infected, the odds are looking a lot better now than they did a couple months ago, and frankly life has to be lived.

 

Compared with Seabourn, which still has not sent a refund or even a confirming email almost three months out, HL has finally stepped up and is handling the corona situation much better.

 

[directionfinder]

I am too had a surprisingly positive reaction from Hapag Lloyd!

I am booked for an Antarctic Cruise in January 2021,  two weeks ago I canceled it because this was the last chance (210 days before the cruise starts) I could cancel with only 200 € fee. It was a hard decision, I was so much looking for this trip (would be my third trip to Antarctica), booked it years ago!

Then my local travel convinced Hapag Lloyd, that it wouldn't be good idea to let me go, so Hapag Lloyd agreed to postpone this 

cancel date with only 200 € fee till 90 days before cruise starts! 

So Hapag Lloyd can keep my deposit longer and I have still a little bit of hope! Yeah!