Alaska, Sept, 2020?

[deliver42]

I did a mock booking for Alaska in Sept. on the Bliss from Seattle. The price seemed pretty good. Including air fare, and all the perks, in a BB balcony, was a little over $4000.00 for 2 including taxes and a reduced deposit. What stopped me was the May 23rd final payment date. I don't think, by the end of May they will know about September, and I sure don't want to tie up $4000.00 and hope it goes, and then have to fight for a refund.

[electro]

21 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

I did a mock booking for Alaska in Sept. on the Bliss from Seattle. The price seemed pretty good. Including air fare, and all the perks, in a BB balcony, was a little over $4000.00 for 2 including taxes and a reduced deposit. What stopped me was the May 23rd final payment date. I don't think, by the end of May they will know about September, and I sure don't want to tie up $4000.00 and hope it goes, and then have to fight for a refund.

I would not give NCL a cent until they start sailing again.

[don't-use-real-name]

By the time cruising restarts the Alaska cruise season will be more than half gone - that - unless

the cruise season wants to be extended into ski and dog sledding tours. LOL !

And while the tour operators would no doubt want to stay open a few weeks more to recover any

portion of lost revenue - the weather will play a major part in the whole operation.

 

When cruising restarts there will be a huge reposition and deployment of the fleet to what is left

of productive markets - a logistical nightmare !

 

And watch what the competition does in Alaska i.e. Princess Holland-America others !

[ColeThornton]

20 minutes ago, electro said:

I would not give NCL a cent until they start sailing again.

 

Or any cruise line or airline for that matter.

[wales4ever]

My October 3 Alaska is cancelled, no idea why a September one is still advertised.  Maybe lazyness on the part of NCL web people, or just trying to raise money for refunds.

[ziggyuk]

If they temporarily allowed bookings a later final payment date they would have far less cancellations.

 

Nobody knows when things will start again let alone 120 days out, if they temporarily made final payment 30 days they would retain a lot more bookings, tying up a deposit is one thing but risking 000's is mad.

 

@wales4ever were you on the Sun, we were on the Sun on that date, it was cancelled as they are redeploying the ship, the Sun will not now go to Alaska, I think it was probably a safer bet to keep her in the Caribbean, rather than send her through the Panama Canal and back with the risk of no sailing anyway.

[mugtech]

1 hour ago, wales4ever said:

 or just trying to raise money for refunds.

Of course

[the_thunderbird]

Any (conventional) Alaska cruise requires a stop in British Columbia. Save potentially the ability to physically dock in Canada and not disembark, which I could see being authorized, there's no chance BC will allow cruise ships to disembark in 2020. Ports in Canada are federally regulated, and that's what has the current no sail order until July 1. However everything else, including in many cases, ownership of the actual pier, is Provincial. The Provincial Order for this will likely come in mid-May, that's a guess but an educated one. 

 

And, thankfully, the Federal / Provincial relationships in Canada are generally very constructive. So I don't see the Feds allowing a ship in that BC doesn't want. 

 

Lastly, the cruise industry here in BC has taken a well deserved beating over the last several months. As the days go on I increasingly see a future of tourism built around significantly less cruise ships being allowed in Port.

[YVRBassElectric]

2 minutes ago, the_thunderbird said:

Any (conventional) Alaska cruise requires a stop in British Columbia. Save potentially the ability to physically dock in Canada and not disembark, which I could see being authorized, there's no chance BC will allow cruise ships to disembark in 2020. Ports in Canada are federally regulated, and that's what has the current no sail order until July 1. However everything else, including in many cases, ownership of the actual pier, is Provincial. The Provincial Order for this will likely come in mid-May, that's a guess but an educated one. 

 

BC Provincial Health Officer just confirmed gathering limits of 50 will stay in place for at least the summer - so all festivals and special events are cancelled, that includes our Fair that is the last 16 days of Summer.

I agree that I don't think cruise ships will be allowed in BC in 2020

[wales4ever]

Yes we were supposed to be on the Sun. Glad we only paid a small deposit.

[ziggyuk]

2 hours ago, wales4ever said:

Yes we were supposed to be on the Sun. Glad we only paid a small deposit.

 

They not only canceled my cruise, they have taken a £100 cancelation fee from my booking.

 

I paid my deposit with a cruisenext voucher and they have returned that £100 light, I'm told it's a cancelation fee..... they canceled, not me! Now nobody can fix it.

[PrinceonRN]

I did a mock booking for Alaska in Sept. on the Bliss from Seattle. The price seemed pretty good. Including air fare, and all the perks, in a BB balcony, was a little over $4000.00 for 2 including taxes and a reduced deposit. What stopped me was the May 23rd final payment date. I don't think, by the end of May they will know about September, and I sure don't want to tie up $4000.00 and hope it goes, and then have to fight for a refund.

I have same issue
Booked a cruise end of August and final payment due this week.
I cancelled as who knows and didn’t want to give thousands of dollars away for a cruise that might not happen and only get a credit.


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[graphicguy]

1 hour ago, ziggyuk said:

 

They not only canceled my cruise, they have taken a £100 cancelation fee from my booking.

 

I paid my deposit with a cruisenext voucher and they have returned that £100 light, I'm told it's a cancelation fee..... they canceled, not me! Now nobody can fix it.

NCL charged a cancelation fee or the booking agent?

[Corliss]

21 hours ago, wales4ever said:

My October 3 Alaska is cancelled, no idea why a September one is still advertised.  Maybe lazyness on the part of NCL web people, or just trying to raise money for refunds.

 

The rest of the Joy Alaska schedule is still being sold.  And the Oct. 4th Bliss Alaska cruise is also still being sold.  I wonder if the October Joy is no longer listed because it is sold out.  I know that sounds odd; but the 20% booking bonus that we all have been given for future bookings is only for cruises from October on.  People with FCCs can use them (and the 20% discount) to book with no additional monetary outlay and if NCL cancels they get 125% FCCs back.  A no lose proposition.

 

I booked a September Bliss cruise with FCCs the other day and the agent told me lots of people are booking cruises with FCCs with that same idea.

 

 

 

[Corliss]

Princess has sent out emails with their health and safety update.

https://www.princess.com/plan/cruise-with-confidence/keeping-you-safe-and-healthy/?cid=dm_email_info_internal_newsletter_others_pf0ms080_200421_weekly_RBXU7AUBA6ATBBSAVB6C73VWPI&eccn=RBXU7AUBA6ATBBSAVB6C73VWPI&rrid=612755123B&mi_u=612755123B#precruise

[ziggyuk]

5 hours ago, graphicguy said:

NCL charged a cancelation fee or the booking agent?

 

NCL, in the UK unlike you in the US, we lose our deposit if we cancel but should not lose it if NCL cancel.

All the telephone staff can say is half the value of my CruiseNext has been lost for a cancellation fee, they agree it's wrong but don't know how to fix it.

I#m going to have another attempt on the phone today, god help me!

[mugtech]

2 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

NCL, in the UK unlike you in the US, we lose our deposit if we cancel but should not lose it if NCL cancel.

All the telephone staff can say is half the value of my CruiseNext has been lost for a cancellation fee, they agree it's wrong but don't know how to fix it.

I#m going to have another attempt on the phone today, god help me!

Good luck, sounds like what happened to me with Philippine Airlines.  They cancelled my 4/21/20 flight and when I moved it to 6/9/20 they charged me a $100 per ticket change fee.  Pure nonsense.  Gonna fight it after the flight.

[ziggyuk]

17 minutes ago, mugtech said:

Good luck, sounds like what happened to me with Philippine Airlines.  They cancelled my 4/21/20 flight and when I moved it to 6/9/20 they charged me a $100 per ticket change fee.  Pure nonsense.  Gonna fight it after the flight.

 

The problem is I have three problems they can't fix right now.

 

1, they took £100 crusenext value as a cancelation fee even though they canceled, they don't know how to fix it.

2, A £300 voucher (from an issue) which was returned to my account following cancellation, it's in account but cant be applied.

3, 20% off due to the cancelation of my cruise they don't know how to apply it.

[graphicguy]

6 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

NCL, in the UK unlike you in the US, we lose our deposit if we cancel but should not lose it if NCL cancel.

All the telephone staff can say is half the value of my CruiseNext has been lost for a cancellation fee, they agree it's wrong but don't know how to fix it.

I#m going to have another attempt on the phone today, god help me!

Interesting.  I’d fight it, too.

 

As far as 20% off another cruise, you have to plug in your Latitudes number into the WEB site and it will show you the fares with 20% off.  If you don’t log in to the WEB site and look at the same fare, it will be 20% more.

 

That NCL PCC doesn’t know how to do any of that tells me I’d want a new PCC or at least look at using a Travel Agent instead of NCL.  Travel Agent will sort all of that out for you.

Edited April 22, 2020 by graphicguy

[ziggyuk]

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Interesting.  I’d fight it, too.

 

As far as 20% off another cruise, you have to plug in your Latitudes number into the WEB site and it will show you the fares with 20% off.  If you don’t log in to the WEB site and look at the same fare, it will be 20% more.

 

That NCL PCC doesn’t know how to do any of that tells me I’d want a new PCC or at least look at using a Travel Agent instead of NCL.  Travel Agent will sort all of that out for you.

 

None of the cruse consultants know how to do it, been through 4 so far.

They say it is automatic when you get a FCC but in a case when you are offered just the 20% without the FCC they don't know.

 

The guy I spoke to today sounded a lot more knowledgeable.

He said the £100 was taken of automatically and would be reinstated and a team are working on that but they have a lot to do manually (maybe only a Europe thing as we lose our deposit?).

 

He went on to say the same person who reinstates the £100 would also apply a 20% reduction to my cruise.

He said when I see my cruisenext return to full value I should also see the 20% off happen, he said at this point I can call and get my CruisNext taken of my cruise (as they will have the correct value) and confirm the 20% reduction.

 

He was able to apply the £300 voucher which for some reason appears to have reduced my cruise by £500, when he applied the £300 he said "oh, what's happened now"..... "This has caused a £200 fee.".... "I will send an email to get that sorted.". Then when I got my confirmation email minutes later it was £500 less instead of £300.

 

seriously.... I have no idea what is even going on at this point 🤪

 

 

 

Not to even mention my shocking service charge for this 9 day cruise:

£23.11 which is $28.46 per person per day

 

 

 🤪 🤪 🤪 🤪 🤪

 

Edited April 22, 2020 by ziggyuk

[Turtles06]

On 4/21/2020 at 4:01 AM, ziggyuk said:

If they temporarily allowed bookings a later final payment date they would have far less cancellations.

I agree.  We have a TA out of Italy in late October, with port calls in the Med before the crossing.  I can’t imagine right now that it will be a go (or that we’d want to be doing that international travel even if it were), but with final payment in early July, we’ll be making our decision fairly soon.