Regal Princess last minute price drop

[drsel]

Before I decided to only book balconies due to the current situation, I stayed in L104 many times when sailing Ruby and Crown, which has the same layout as Caribbean for that part of the ship.  I absolutely adore that cabin, as it is really large and spacious and I love the layout, and is a great deal price-wise.  The bathroom is in the leg of the cabin aft of the main part, the cabinets are against the port side wall, so that opens up the main part of the room to make it large and open feeling.  Be warned that the other three cabins are *much* smaller.  L101 looks reasonably sized from the deck plans but it is tiny, tiny, tiny!  Barely enough room to walk around the bed, I believe smaller than the inside cabins on that deck.  I was shocked when I booked it for my daughter, expecting a larger cabin from the deck plan.  L102 is smaller yet, and I am not sure about L103.  That said, there is no noise in that of the ship.  Views are nice if you stand up and look over the deck railing in front of the cabins.  There is movement in rough waters, but that is not a personal concern of mine.

What does obstructed by metal railing mean ?

Are these obstructed view deluxe balcony cabins below the sky walk and is the view partially blocked by metal beams supporting the skywalk?

If it is not very windy, can passengers use the balcony during sea days?

 

[memoak]

On 7/15/2020 at 7:37 AM, drsel said:

Moderna vaccine news is just out and cruise line stocks are soaring.
I think cruising with resume by mid October

The next level of vaccine testing will take months. No way there is a vaccine by October. I am hoping for April but only counting on August 2021. And even then I am crossing my fingers. Have Hawaii set for April and b2b Alaska in August 

[drsel]

Even without a vaccine the virus will die a natural death like what happened in China Japan South Korea Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and some other Asian countries

 

 

[memoak]

1 hour ago, drsel said:

Even without a vaccine the virus will die a natural death like what happened in China Japan South Korea Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and some other Asian countries

 

 

Not if people continue to refuse wearing masks and infecting each other

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, drsel said:

Even without a vaccine the virus will die a natural death like what happened in China Japan South Korea Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and some other Asian countries

 

 

Seriously ! What planet are you on?

Explain why Melbourne has just been placed on a 6 week lockdown?

And do you seriously think there are no cases in China ?

[cvpends]

4 hours ago, drsel said:

What does obstructed by metal railing mean ?

Are these obstructed view deluxe balcony cabins below the sky walk and is the view partially blocked by metal beams supporting the skywalk?

If it is not very windy, can passengers use the balcony during sea days?

 

ChaserX posted a picture of the metal railing in post #2, above.  Skywalk is mid ship, forward cabins are forward.  On windy days and actually pretty much any time you are sailing at speed, if you open the door to a forward balcony, a wind tunnel effect causes wind all the way down the hallways.  So most captains disallow usage of those balconies when sailing.

[EDDY0827]

4 hours ago, drsel said:

What does obstructed by metal railing mean ?

Are these obstructed view deluxe balcony cabins below the sky walk and is the view partially blocked by metal beams supporting the skywalk?

If it is not very windy, can passengers use the balcony during sea days?

 

 

This should answer most/all questions.

[Hlitner]

On 7/15/2020 at 10:37 AM, drsel said:

Moderna vaccine news is just out and cruise line stocks are soaring.
I think cruising with resume by mid October

While I do not want to burst your optimistic bubble, a lifetime working in the healthcare (insurance) industry taught me some valuable lessons.  Moderna is doing a fabulous job talking up their vaccine research which has caused its stock to triple in value.  Meanwhile, key executives of Moderna have managed to sell off more than $87 million of their stock making a huge profit for themselves :).  This is not new in the pharmacy industry and is quite legal.  Putting a drug into Phase 3 trials is a big step, but most of the time (over 80%) there is no successful outcome.  But I will not ask you to believe me but perhaps you would be interested in somebody who has an awful lot of first hand knowledge:

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-vaccine-merck-co/merck-ceo-says-raising-covid-19-vaccine-hopes-a-grave-disservice-report-idUKKCN24F2S4

 

I would add that the normal time for a vaccine to get to market is far more than 1 year.   The fastest ANY vaccine has ever made it to market is 3 years with most taking about 5 years.  Will COVID-19 be the miraculous exception?  I sure hope so.  But given that Moderna also reported that more than 50% of its test subjects have suffered side effects and that small group does not include a single person over 55 years of age or any children, I think they do have a lot of work ahead of them.

 

Hank

[drsel]

This should answer most/all questions.

Lovely video but what about the ship movement and rocking, right in front on Deck 15 ?

I suffer from sea sickness and I take a dimenhydrinate tablet for motion sickness every 12 hours when I am sailing / when the ship is moving

[cvpends]

1 hour ago, drsel said:

Lovely video but what about the ship movement and rocking, right in front on Deck 15 ?

I suffer from sea sickness and I take a dimenhydrinate tablet for motion sickness every 12 hours when I am sailing / when the ship is moving

You will hate the Lido forward cabins in that case.  There is a lot of up and down and rocking side to side movement when the ship is sailing in rough waters.  I personally love it but it won't work for you.

[Senga]

I THOUGHT there would be travel bargains to entice passengers but looking at Alaska for June 2021 showed HIGHER prices and almost 100% balcony cabins booked.  We were advised that if we book travel now while advisories are still in place that we would be unable to get insurance.  Think we’ll just wait until the 2022 offerings.  😩

[emmas gran]

We are supposed to be cruising with friends on Regal 14th Nov --Singapore to Sydney with friends from Sydney. None of us think the cruise will go ahead just waiting for Princess to cancel as they have already cancelled Southampton to Rome on its initial transit to Australia.

You mention Virgin flights that is to Hong Kong only and they are in lockdown yet again (friends live there) schools shut etc. If you have any symptoms when arriving you are quarantined at your own expense for 14 days.Virgin are not taking bookings for August at the moment I just tried to make one and passengers are restricted. Australia is not allowing international visitors yet much less cruise ships , which is why we have a delayed final payt on the cruise.

 

[wowzz]

8 hours ago, Senga said:

I THOUGHT there would be travel bargains to entice passengers but looking at Alaska for June 2021 showed HIGHER prices and almost 100% balcony cabins booked.  We were advised that if we book travel now while advisories are still in place that we would be unable to get insurance.  Think we’ll just wait until the 2022 offerings.  😩

I'm not sure why you are surprised. All those pax that took FCC for this year have to find cruises next year to spend their FCC.

The same situation applies to 2021 cruises on P&O  - cruise prices are anything up to 50% more expensive than "normal ".

[Roberto256]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

I'm not sure why you are surprised. All those pax that took FCC for this year have to find cruises next year to spend their FCC.

The same situation applies to 2021 cruises on P&O  - cruise prices are anything up to 50% more expensive than "normal ".

 

I think that is brilliant by cruise lines.   You have a bunch of customers who have FCCs which expire.

They have to book a cruise before the expiration, or they lose everything.

They are incented to book, even at higher prices.

 

[wowzz]

6 minutes ago, Roberto256 said:

 

I think that is brilliant by cruise lines.   You have a bunch of customers who have FCCs which expire.

They have to book a cruise before the expiration, or they lose everything.

They are incented to book, even at higher prices.

 

From an accountant's point of view, it's an excellent solution, and I can see why they've done it. In the interim, I'm waiting until 2022 to book another cruise, if there are any cruise lines left by then

[Reader0108598]

13 hours ago, Senga said:

I THOUGHT there would be travel bargains to entice passengers but looking at Alaska for June 2021 showed HIGHER prices and almost 100% balcony cabins booked.  We were advised that if we book travel now while advisories are still in place that we would be unable to get insurance.  Think we’ll just wait until the 2022 offerings.  😩

Agree everything is higher I will be staying home 😞

 

[Hlitner]

 

3 hours ago, Roberto256 said:

 

I think that is brilliant by cruise lines.   You have a bunch of customers who have FCCs which expire.

They have to book a cruise before the expiration, or they lose everything.

They are incented to book, even at higher prices.

 

Perhaps even more brilliant then many think :(.  In many cases, the cruise lines "encouraged" passengers of cancelled cruises to forego cash refunds in favor of generous FCCs.  Folks jumped at those FCC deals which were often 125%, 150% or even 200% of the payments they had made on cancelled cruises.  If they had accepted the cash refunds they would have eventually received their money and they also had the option of filing credit card "chargeback" claims which would have also resulted in them getting their money back.  But now they need to be concerned about cruise line bankruptcies where their FCCs are essentially worthless.  It is unlikely they can file a chargeback claim since they voluntarily traded their right to a cash refund for a generous FCC.  And it also turns out that those generous FCCs were often not so generous since the cruise lines increased the price of many future cruises.  Ouch.

 

So the question is will the big cruise companies (CCL, RCI, Norwegian Holdings and MSC) survive?  CCL, RCI and Norwegian Holdings all sold their souls to obtain sufficient financing to likely get them through 2020.  But in each case, the financial packages had very unfavorable terms for those cruise lines and will be a huge future burden.  If cruising does not begin (with profitable cruises) by the end of 2020...all bets are off.  None of those lines can survive indefinitely with their huge cash bleed.  MSC is somewhat different since it is a private company buttressed by a family with huge holdings in the usually profitable container ship industry.  For MSC it will likely come down to owner/family making a tough decision whether (or not) to continue in the cruise business.

 

Hank

[drsel]

Hank, that is a very intelligent analysis.
thank you very much

[voljeep]

28 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Folks jumped at those FCC deals which were often 125%, 150% or even 200% of the payments they had made on cancelled cruises.

I'm hoping for the 200% FCC for cruises not paid in full when Princess cancels our late November cruise.

 

Looking at basically a same type cabin / cruise in April 2021, the cost is about $ 50 pp pd more than our currently priced cabin, admittedly we got at a very good rate.  We've 'only' got $ 1,000 in play right now and still about 60 days to final payment due.

 

Prolly take a refund if only 125% offered knowing it would be 120+ days to see the money back in our account

[drsel]

Guests currently booked on these canceled voyages, who have paid Princess in full, will have the option to receive a refundable Future Cruise Credit (FCC) equivalent to 100% of the cruise fare paid plus an additional non-refundable bonus FCC equal to 25% of the cruise fare (not applicable on charter voyages).

For guests who have not paid in full, Princess will Double the Deposit, providing a refundable FCC for the money currently on deposit plus a matching bonus FCC that can be used on any voyage through May 1, 2022. The matching bonus FCC is non-refundable, will not exceed the base cruise fare amount of the currently booked cruise and will have a minimum value of $100 per person.

[drsel]

200% FCC is only on the deposit amount of a cancelled Cruise, while on the full payment amount it is 125%

 

 

[Hlitner]

4 minutes ago, voljeep said:

I'm hoping for the 200% FCC for cruises not paid in full when Princess cancels our late November cruise.

 

Looking at basically a same type cabin / cruise in April 2021, the cost is about $ 50 pp pd more than our currently priced cabin, admittedly we got at a very good rate.  We've 'only' got $ 1,000 in play right now and still about 60 days to final payment due.

 

Prolly take a refund if only 125% offered knowing it would be 120+ days to see the money back in our account

Only a $1000?  LOL.  With our Princess cruises we have managed to keep our cash risk to $200 per cruise (by simply using Future Cruise Credits we keep in file).  When all this COVID-19 stuff started last January we had 5 long cruise bookings (with 3 lines).  So far, 2 of these have been cancelled by the cruise lines (HAL and Princess) and our out of pocket losses are less than zero (we got all of our money back plus an additional future cruise credit on HAL).  We now figure our Oct 17 Regal cruise will be cancelled (either by the cruise line or us) and we have an additional Dec MSC cruise which is also at great risk.  In 2021 we have an Asian booking (HAL) in April which we suspect will eventually be cancelled (I am skeptical that Japan will allow cruise ships in 2021) but we have little financial risk with that cruise.

 

My message is simple.  We still are booking cruises (through 2021) but are doing it with minimal deposits and no air risk (using cruise air options).  My heart is optimistic, but a lifetime in the healthcare industry leaves me with a powerful thought that nothing (re Covid-19) will change until late 2021 at the earliest and perhaps not for many years.  I truly pray I am wrong (we all want our lives back) but experience has taught me that logic trumps wishful thinking.   So we think it is a good time to hedge one's bets by keeping cash risk at a minimum.

 

Hank

[voljeep]

12 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Only a $1000?  LOL.

we've had this cruise booked for a long time - first as a 'Getaway' promotion with BEST2DG and a $ 100 NON-Refundable deposit

 

over time, we have taken advantage of price drops, Princess Plus, upgraded to a Cat BB, NR deposit credited back as FCC, and we placed an additional $ 200 RD to bring our 'investment' to $ 300 for a long time

 

when Princess started cancelling cruises and offering 'double your amount paid if not paid in full, well we gradually started

increasing our 'investment / exposure' to what it is today .. basically 'gaming the system' as one previous poster so eloquently put it 

[Hlitner]

9 minutes ago, voljeep said:

we've had this cruise booked for a long time - first as a 'Getaway' promotion with BEST2DG and a $ 100 NON-Refundable deposit

 

over time, we have taken advantage of price drops, Princess Plus, upgraded to a Cat BB, NR deposit credited back as FCC, and we placed an additional $ 200 RD to bring our 'investment' to $ 300 for a long time

 

when Princess started cancelling cruises and offering 'double your amount paid if not paid in full, well we gradually started

increasing our 'investment / exposure' to what it is today .. basically 'gaming the system' as one previous poster so eloquently put it 

ROFL.  I do think that many experienced cruisers took advantage of price drops/promotions.  For our August Island Princess booking (now cancelled by Princess) we took advantage of 4 price drops (a record for us) before the grim reaper showed himself.  With the Regal I think it has only been 3 price drops and some category upgrades (lost count) but I think that Grim Reaper is peaking around the bulkhead.  Princess EZAIR has also changed our flights 4 times (trying to keep up with flight cancellations).  We did not get caught up in that "double the amount paid" thing since I cannot get the "bankruptcy" thoughts out of my little head.  In our long cruise life (over forty years) we have had two lines go bankrupt with our bookings so do not see this possibility as far fetched.

 

Hank 

[drsel]

Which two lines went bankrupt and did you lose all your money paid to these two lines?