No Refunds with New Protocols?

[latserrof]

No crystal ball needed. As for next time, I can only say you might want to think twice about booking a cruise in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.

[sanger727]

22 hours ago, magictam said:

Wow I’m so glad there were so many clairvoyance out there. Can you give me the date it’s going to restart so I know when to cruise next?  Your response was so helpful I’m hoping you can help in the next step. 

 

If you are wanting to avoid the chance of both cancellations and having restrictive new policies like preboard testing, mandatory shore excursions, masks, etc; my money is on a mid 2022 cruise. Not based on clairvoyance, based on watching the news and listening to what they say.

[latserrof]

18 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

If you are wanting to avoid the chance of both cancellations and having restrictive new policies like preboard testing, mandatory shore excursions, masks, etc; my money is on a mid 2022 cruise. Not based on clairvoyance, based on watching the news and listening to what they say.

I'd be overjoyed.

[magictam]

20 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

If you are wanting to avoid the chance of both cancellations and having restrictive new policies like preboard testing, mandatory shore excursions, masks, etc; my money is on a mid 2022 cruise. Not based on clairvoyance, based on watching the news and listening to what they say.

A question that in early June people knew it was going to be this bad by November December. I’m sure if the majority of individuals/companies that thought they way they would not have offered the sailings. Now carnivals in the position of having to either refund dollars or offer a big incentive to keep the dollars. I don’t imagine they’re happy with either of those choices. And I received a letter from Carnival today giving me those choices. 

[sanger727]

15 hours ago, magictam said:

A question that in early June people knew it was going to be this bad by November December. I’m sure if the majority of individuals/companies that thought they way they would not have offered the sailings. Now carnivals in the position of having to either refund dollars or offer a big incentive to keep the dollars. I don’t imagine they’re happy with either of those choices. And I received a letter from Carnival today giving me those choices. 

I think a lot of people realized in June that if would still be this bad in November. The cruise lines didn’t know when they would be able to start for sure so of course they pushed the cancellations out a bit at a time. Doesn’t mean that they had any confidence that they would be sailing by now. 
 

I realize that it’s easy to say now that I knew back then. But we had planned to take an international land trip in feb 2021. We were going to book it in May. By May we knew the chances of that trip happening were unlikely so we didn’t book. By July we had given up on the idea of this trip happening in feb.

Edited October 2, 2020 by sanger727

[Dermotsgirl]

I have a cruise booked on Cunard’s Queen Victoria for October 2021, which I booked in October 2019.

 

I’m of the opinion that we will be living under restrictions for the whole of 2021, and if cruising starts again, it will look very different to the carefree cruising that I’m used to. Furthermore, this is a very expensive cruise for us, as we booked at as a special celebration for our 40th wedding anniversary and my husband’s 70th birthday.  Therefore, we want the cruise to be as close to perfect as possible.

 

Bearing all that in mind, we have been thinking that we would wait until Cunard’s summer 2022 cruises came out, and transfer our cruise to a less expensive, shorter cruise, closer to home, within the terms of Cunard’s flexible cancellation policy. 
 

However, I noticed that, on 29th September, Cunard withdrew their flexible cancellation policy for cruises due to sail after their proposed 2021 restart dates.

 

This  means that I can only transfer my cruise without penalty to a cruise that is more expensive.
 

Refundable for any reason deposits are not a ‘thing’ in the U.K. and my travel insurance company would not accept a claim as this would be classed as ‘disinclination to travel’, which is not an insured event.

 

So I feel stuck with a cruise that will probably be unlike what I booked when Covid wasn’t even known about.

 

So  in answer to the original question - yes, I think the cruise companies will stop refunds when their new protocols are announced, and people who booked before Covid happened will also be adversely affected.

 

I should add that U.K. package regulations state that a full refund should be made if the holiday is ‘significantly different to the holiday that was booked’, but I suspect the cruise companies would argue that the new protocols are not a significant change. 

[firefly333]

On 9/30/2020 at 2:40 PM, sanger727 said:

 

If you are wanting to avoid the chance of both cancellations and having restrictive new policies like preboard testing, mandatory shore excursions, masks, etc; my money is on a mid 2022 cruise. Not based on clairvoyance, based on watching the news and listening to what they say.

I'd say wait until it's gone. It could still be around in some form 5 years from now. What about cancellations for other reasons. Cruise booking always seems to have some risks. Maybe cruising isnt for you if you dont want cancellations or restrictive policies. 

 

If I bet I'd have already lost my money when this would improve lol. I keep on booking. Have 7 active bookings now. Most just deposits. Two fccs from cancelled cruises. Not that much tied up.

[firefly333]

14 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I have a cruise booked on Cunard’s Queen Victoria for October 2021, which I booked in October 2019.

 

Bearing all that in mind, we have been thinking that we would wait until Cunard’s summer 2022 cruises came out, and transfer our cruise to a less expensive, shorter cruise, closer to home, within the terms of Cunard’s flexible cancellation policy. 
 

However, I noticed that, on 29th September, Cunard withdrew their flexible cancellation policy for cruises due to sail after their proposed 2021 restart dates.

 

This  means that I can only transfer my cruise without penalty to a cruise that is more expensive.
 

Sorry to hear you waited hoping new itineraries would come out. Rcl has something similar where you can transfer without penalty they extended to nov 30th. However, it only applies to cruises thru april 2022. So even though they extended the flexibility if they release new itineraries in November you cant move to them with cruise with confidence. 

[sanger727]

12 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

 Cruise booking always seems to have some risks. Maybe cruising isnt for you if you dont want cancellations or restrictive policies. 

 

I was simply replying to the OP who didn’t want to cruise with the restrictions that are likely to exist when cruising restarts. Not expressing my feeling about the matter.

Edited October 3, 2020 by sanger727

[pris993]

On 9/26/2020 at 8:43 AM, iancal said:

I don't know.  We came home early from Mexico in mid/late  March because our Gov't advised us to.   It was certainly a pandemic in March where we live.  The numbers were low but the forecast numbers were not.   That forecast was the issue.   Countries were closing down, air services were being cut.  CDC, mid March, was actually warning the public not to take cruises.  We have known for quite some time that an effective vaccine would not be widely available until early/mid 2021.....despite what any politician was claiming.

 

We are not booking anything until we know with certainty what the product will be.  Will it sail, will the ports be open, what is the on board environment, etc.   Not interested in any FCC's.  No intention of buying a pig in a poke so to speak.   

Agree with you.  We booked while on the Grand in February.  By May decided this is going to go on for a while, so change my booking for next January to January 2022.   By then I think we will have answers and can really decide to cruise or not.  

[clo]

16 minutes ago, pris993 said:

Agree with you.  We booked while on the Grand in February.  By May decided this is going to go on for a while, so change my booking for next January to January 2022.   By then I think we will have answers and can really decide to cruise or not.  

If you had canceled rather than rebooked could you have a full refund. 

[pris993]

19 minutes ago, clo said:

If you had canceled rather than rebooked could you have a full refund. 

I booked with  a FBC only.... if I cancel, goes back to my Princess account, if I don't use by expiration date, my credit card gets credited.   

[clo]

9 minutes ago, pris993 said:

I booked with  a FBC only.... if I cancel, goes back to my Princess account, if I don't use by expiration date, my credit card gets credited.   

Excellent. So is that even if the cruise line goes bankrupt?

[magictam]

13 hours ago, sanger727 said:

I was simply replying to the OP who didn’t want to cruise with the restrictions that are likely to exist when cruising restarts. Not expressing my feeling about the matter.

I tired to be very clear in my original post that I didn't/wasn't cancelling my cruise. I was just wondering what other thought to no refunds even with major changes by the cruise line. I still am booked on the Horizon 11/14. I have been given the option to cancel but I'm waiting see what the changes will be before I make that decision.

[pris993]

10 hours ago, clo said:

Excellent. So is that even if the cruise line goes bankrupt?

LOL, aren't you a Debbie downer!!  Doubt Princess is going bankrupt, if they do, I can afford to lose $200.

 

[sanger727]

58 minutes ago, magictam said:

I tired to be very clear in my original post that I didn't/wasn't cancelling my cruise. I was just wondering what other thought to no refunds even with major changes by the cruise line. I still am booked on the Horizon 11/14. I have been given the option to cancel but I'm waiting see what the changes will be before I make that decision.

I re-read the original post and you’re right. I  apologize for misrepresenting it.

 

my thoughts on the original questions posted is that

1.yes, I think that if the speculated changes are put into place it’s a different product than they were selling a year ago. So if you had a pre-existing booking a fcc or rebook option should be available 

2. I am not interested in booking a cruise as described and will probably not book anything in the foreseeable future.

3. Final payment for a November cruise should have been in July or August? So there was an opportunity prior to final payment when these issues were foreseeable and one could have cancelled or moved their cruise.

 

[clo]

5 minutes ago, pris993 said:

LOL, aren't you a Debbie downer!!  Doubt Princess is going bankrupt, if they do, I can afford to lose $200.

 

Nope. But in this case I believe in prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It's why I canceled a cruise in August where I could have waited til June.

[magictam]

1 hour ago, sanger727 said:

 

3. Final payment for a November cruise should have been in July or August? So there was an opportunity prior to final payment when these issues were foreseeable and one could have cancelled or moved their cruise.

Thank you and thanks for your input. 🙂

You are right, I could have cancelled in August prior to final payment. I looked into that option as well. When I booked this cruise, I had 400 in a FCC credit and I had paid all but 200 of the cruise. If I had cancelled then:

1. The 400 FCC would be kept as a FCC. That sounds fair to me.

2. 150 of my payments would then be added an additional FCC because that was the non refundable deposit. My fault, I thought the 400 FCC was the deposit. 

So I opted to wait and see.

 

Now 2 months later, Carnival is offering a full refund. I don't know if that included the 400 FCC (which is not an issue). I'm still doing a wait and see. I'm interested in seeing what the changes and restrictions will be put into place before I make my decision.  

 

I really need.want some time away. I'm not a big social person, so masks & distancing isn't much of an issue for me. I'm really waiting to see if they are going to shorten the number of days. Currently it's 8 days and I would have to fly in, so waiting to see if it's worth the flight. 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, sanger727 said: