Princess Cruises Announces Extension of Pause of Operations in Australia through End of May 2021

[caribill]

SANTA CLARITA, Calif., Oct. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Due to the uncertainty about when international travel restrictions might be lifted, Princess Cruises is extending its pause in operations for cruises departing from Australia and New Zealand through May 31, 2021.

 

Guests will 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 paid. To receive the above FCCs, no action is required by the guest or their travel advisor.  

 

Alternatively, guests can forfeit the bonus FCC offer and request a refund for all money paid on their booking by using an online form. Guests have until November 30, 2020, to elect a refund, or they will automatically receive the default offer listed above.   

 

Princess will protect travel advisor commissions on bookings for cancelled cruises that were paid in full, in recognition of the critical role they play in the cruise line's business and success.  

 

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/princess-cruises-announces-extension-pause-operations-0

[joepeka]

With "international travel restrictions" as the impetus, if things do not change substantially in the next 4-6 months, is Summer Alaska in jeopardy? I'm thinking it is. 😢

[Mary229]

1 minute ago, joepeka said:

With "international travel restrictions" as the impetus, if things do not change substantially in the next 4-6 months, is Summer Alaska in jeopardy? I'm thinking it is. 😢

I don’t see any signals coming from Canada that they are going to lift their restrictions so indeed, Alaska is in jeopardy 

[Paula_MacFan]

8 minutes ago, joepeka said:

With "international travel restrictions" as the impetus, if things do not change substantially in the next 4-6 months, is Summer Alaska in jeopardy? I'm thinking it is. 😢

 

I was thinking the same thing, especially since we have a June cruisetour booked.  My confidence level in that trip has been very low for some time and this just reinforces it.  

[joepeka]

2 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

 

I was thinking the same thing, especially since we have a June cruisetour booked.  My confidence level in that trip has been very low for some time and this just reinforces it.  

We have a repo cruise on Royal for early May 2021 that ends in Vancouver; I'm thinking that cruise will likely be cancelled. Not happy but it is what it is. 

[iamaqt2]

23 minutes ago, joepeka said:

With "international travel restrictions" as the impetus, if things do not change substantially in the next 4-6 months, is Summer Alaska in jeopardy? I'm thinking it is. 😢

Perhaps Congress will suspend the PVSA for the Alaska cruise season?  That would solve the problem for Seattle R/T. And the N/S routes could use Seattle if capacity allows.

[pms4104]

46 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

Perhaps Congress will suspend the PVSA for the Alaska cruise season?  That would solve the problem for Seattle R/T. And the N/S routes could use Seattle if capacity allows.

Assuming the port of Seattle is open ... and assuming that Alaska ports open ... did not Alaska restrict tourism in 2020?

Edited October 28, 2020 by pms4104

[Mary229]

Just now, pms4104 said:

Assuming the port of Seattle os open ... and assuming that Alaska ports open ... did not Alaska have restrict tourism in 2020?

Alaska is making noise that they are ready to go. I think their leaders are assume there will be a vaccine by the time the season starts 

  They also understand that you have to let the cruise lines know now.  You can’t just say May 1 “oh, we want you back and right now. “

[iamaqt2]

19 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

Assuming the port of Seattle is open ... and assuming that Alaska ports open ... did not Alaska restrict tourism in 2020?

That's true.. Gov. Inslee won't open the cruise ports if Covid is still active. But Alaska is definitely rattling chains to get the cruise ships running again.

[PurpleHays]

1 hour ago, joepeka said:

With "international travel restrictions" as the impetus, if things do not change substantially in the next 4-6 months, is Summer Alaska in jeopardy? I'm thinking it is. 😢

We have one in June and are already thinking about alternate plans. Ugh.

 

Remember when everybody thought this would just last a few weeks?

[iamaqt2]

1 minute ago, PurpleHays said:

We have one in June and are already thinking about alternate plans. Ugh.

 

Remember when everybody thought this would just last a few weeks?

I work in a hospital and never thought this would be gone in a few weeks.  I do, however, recall the President of the United States making that statement multiple times.

[PurpleHays]

3 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

I work in a hospital and never thought this would be gone in a few weeks.  I do, however, recall the President of the United States making that statement multiple times.

I work in a surgery center. We were closed except for emergencies (essentially fracture reductions) for a month. I never thought it would be quick, but a lot of people sure did. They're the same ones that seem to have difficulty wearing a mask and staying home. 🙄

[iamaqt2]

5 minutes ago, PurpleHays said:

I work in a surgery center. We were closed except for emergencies (essentially fracture reductions) for a month. I never thought it would be quick, but a lot of people sure did. They're the same ones that seem to have difficulty wearing a mask and staying home. 🙄

Us healthcare workers sure got the crummy end of the stick on this deal.  I remember when C-diff and MRSA were the general worst we had to deal with, with an occasional TB thrown in for good measure.  Now we have Covid cohort units. And we're considered one of the better states.. 🙄🙄

[PurpleHays]

34 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

Us healthcare workers sure got the crummy end of the stick on this deal.  I remember when C-diff and MRSA were the general worst we had to deal with, with an occasional TB thrown in for good measure.  Now we have Covid cohort units. And we're considered one of the better states.. 🙄🙄

I'm relieved I'm not still working at the university hospital. They got the covid cases. We were closed, but even when we opened back up, we don't take any infectious cases. They go across the street to the hospital. I still have a strong dislike for yellow.

[40yearcruiser]

We anticipated that this would happen so not surprised. We had rebooked our canceled cruises from March & April of this year to Feb. & March of 2021, thinking we would be able to cruise 11 months later. But as the virus continues to spread we knew that our chances of going in Feb. were getting slim, especially with Australia still in lockdown. And the thought of the long flight to Australia made it less likely, so we decided last night that we would rebook for March & April of 2022 with every hope this nightmare will be over by then. At least if everything goes well we will have a vaccine by then. 

[eamondzhang]

Our 05 Mar cruise from Sydney to Adelaide is canned as part of this pause.

 

Cancellation #2 in COVID era - guess I'm lucky!

 

Both of them are on Majestic unfortunately

 

Michael

[Shmoo here]

5 hours ago, iamaqt2 said:

Perhaps Congress will suspend the PVSA for the Alaska cruise season? 

Unlikely.  

[caribill]

6 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I don’t see any signals coming from Canada that they are going to lift their restrictions

 

A glimmer of a start

 

https://www.frommers.com/blogs/arthur-frommer-online/blog_posts/in-a-trial-to-rescue-travel-canada-to-test-international-arrivals-at-one-airport

[Roger88]

5 hours ago, iamaqt2 said:

I work in a hospital and never thought this would be gone in a few weeks.  I do, however, recall the President of the United States making that statement multiple times.

As long as people are violating self-isolation and self-protection rules we will have to deal with it for as long as the vaccine appears on the horizon. So far, there are over 40 million people who got sick, over 100k people died in the US alone. This is insane 

[Lucky TGO]

6 hours ago, PurpleHays said:

We have one in June and are already thinking about alternate plans. Ugh.

 

Remember when everybody thought this would just last a few weeks?

Yes I remember. I also remember when we were told this is nothing to worry about. Go to Chinatown tonight and have dinner. 

Tony 
 

[john1970]

I'm glad that my Australia cruise on May 1st has been cancelled as it now gives me some options as I did not fall under cruise with confidence policy which ended in April 21. Princess should have cancelled the Oz season a long time ago when it was blindingly obvious it could not happen. Qantas are talking about not coming back to the UK until end of 21 so that tells you how bad things are. I think I will go for the refund as I don't want any cruise line to be holding my money indefinitely.

[HappyInVan]

Melbourne just re-opened after 4 months lock down. Cheers.

 

IMO, the cruise companies are missing an opportunity here. They're trying to restart in the main markets, but both sides of the Atlantic are in flames.

 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2020/10/articles/disease/another-covid-19-outbreak-on-a-river-cruise-13-infected-all-passengers-in-quarantine/

 

I hope that the brains in the cruise companies will realize that a sustained cruising itinerary has to operate in low risk areas. For example, East Asia to Hawaii and Vancouver. Australia and NZ. Just get a few ships (not the entire fleet) to operate safely for the winter. That will do wonders for confidence in cruising.

 

Bubbles are forming. Are the Cruise CEOs listening?

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/19/how-travel-bubble-between-hong-kong-and-singapore-will-work.html

 

[iamaqt2]

7 hours ago, Roger88 said:

As long as people are violating self-isolation and self-protection rules we will have to deal with it for as long as the vaccine appears on the horizon. So far, there are over 40 million people who got sick, over 100k people died in the US alone. This is insane 

Actually over 223,000 are dead in the US, with an additional 1000 deaths occurring daily now. And it's spreading rapidly.

[HaveWeMetYet]

2 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

Melbourne just re-opened after 4 months lock down. Cheers.

 

IMO, the cruise companies are missing an opportunity here. They're trying to restart in the main markets, but both sides of the Atlantic are in flames.

 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2020/10/articles/disease/another-covid-19-outbreak-on-a-river-cruise-13-infected-all-passengers-in-quarantine/

 

I hope that the brains in the cruise companies will realize that a sustained cruising itinerary has to operate in low risk areas. For example, East Asia to Hawaii and Vancouver. Australia and NZ. Just get a few ships (not the entire fleet) to operate safely for the winter. That will do wonders for confidence in cruising.

 

Bubbles are forming. Are the Cruise CEOs listening?

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/19/how-travel-bubble-between-hong-kong-and-singapore-will-work.html

 

The big issue is getting crew members into the countries that you named. International travel is banned in most of them.

[cruzsnooze]

Does anyone know if the credit of 125% will apply if you used FCC's from a previously cancelled cruise?