will you rebook a cancelled cruise without incentives?

[susiesan]

How many Windstar pax who have had cruises cancelled on them recently plan to rebook for a later date? Will you do it without an incentive or deal? 

 

My March 4, 2021 Tahiti sailing was cancelled by Windstar. I had booked with the $100 deposit and very low rates back in March. I have asked Windstar to allow me to keep my booking deal and move to another date. They are not doing this anymore, they just cancelled my booking and refunded the deposit. Current prices are very very high, almost twice what I was going to pay so I will not rebook this trip.

 

Windstar is going to have to get very aggressive with specials to get people to book with them for anytime in 2021 as it is likely more of next year's cruises will get cancelled. 

[Strenz]

In answer  to your question my 1/16/20 was canceled and my 9/28/2020 was canceled, the day my 1/16/20 canceled I immediately rebooked for 9/29/21 the same cruise that was canceled 9/28/20. I rebooked because I want to go. Simple this was a trip we have wanted to take for three years and we love the Surf.  We are not wealthy  people but life is to  short as this pandemic has proven. I know you have written about  Tahiti, we did it on the Spirit, it was WS first time back. I could not imagine sailing in that fabulous lagoon on any other ship. The sails, the reflections, the colors it was beyond amazing. So, if it is part of your dream to sail in Tahiti simply do it if you can. Watch for the sales, if they reduce the price great if not oh well, a fabulous experience awaits you. Happy Sailing Be Safe

[Snow cat]

I haven't had a Windstar cruise cancelled in early 2021 (I cancelled one myself as I could see what was coming), but for sure I have booked 2 future Windstar cruises, including 1 in Tahiti.  I book at a price I am willing to pay, but watch for specials or reductions.

[crilski]

I will not rebook unless it can happen at the same price, and sometime in 2022.  Otherwise, forget it.

[Host Jazzbeau]

I had a Windstar cruise a year ago that was cancelled because of the delay on refitting Legend.  They gave us a small incentive since we only had the down payment – rolled that onto the same itinerary for this coming April [not a lift and shift, straight rebooking].  With the latest round of cancellations our cruise is now the 2nd after restart, and who knows if it will happen at all.  If it's cancelled, I'll have to look at the terms of the FCC because we already have plans for the rest of 2021 and into 2022 so I don't know when there will be a slot for Windstar to fill.  But I would not demand a bonus to rebook – none of this is Windstar's fault, I expect they will come back with the same good product that attracted us in the first place – so if the fare is reasonable we will book again.  A cruise on Windstar is its own incentive.

[new_cruiser]

They had been offering some pretty rock bottom prices for late 2020 and early 2021 to try to get people to book with all the COVID uncertainty. After not sailing for about a year (assuming that cruises are able to start back up in April), I don't expect they can afford to extend those prices to the rest of 2021 and 2022.

 

I'll rebook the same cruise if I find the price tolerable or book something else where I like the price. We had already cancelled our January Tahiti cruise as we didn't want to make final payment. We decided it was likely that COVID risk would still be too high for us to be comfortable sailing if they didn't cancel the cruise. I wonder if the number of people not feeling confident enough to make final payment was part of the reason for the latest round of cancellations. 

 

We have a reservation for a May cruise. It's an Athens, Israel and Egypt sailing. It was booked before we booked Tahiti, so it's not something we booked due to cancelling Tahiti.  I'm hoping that one or more vaccines will be available enough that we will be able to get vaccinated before the cruise. 

 

We also booked one of the Fall 2021 San Diego sailings when it was on 7-for-7 recently. I'm really hoping things are a lot more stable by then. In any case, that one is close to us. It's nice to have something that will require almost zero planning as I'm getting a bit burned out on trying to plan things that don't happen. It's a lower priced let's get away and relax cruise rather than a bucket list trip. 

[ducklite]

We had booked a cruise for fall of 2020 which was cancelled due to dry dock issues (irate that the ship wasn't in dry dock and was redeployed for a different itinerary the same time frame).  We rescheduled for a different cruise which was cancelled due to Covid.  I get that.  Rescheduled for a different cruise in the fall which was cancelled no reason given a week after we booked it and months before they cancelled the fall sailing season.  We wanted to rebook a different cruise over the summer of 2021, but the amount that they wanted for a deposit was far more than I was willing to let them hold onto for over a year, so we forfeited the whopping $300 in FCC's we had earned and got our deposit back.  I don't see the point of letting Windstar hold thousands of dollars for a cruise they may or may not cancel for any number of reasons, including chartering the ship.

[susiesan]

Agree, ducklite. I will not be rebooking  Windstar or any cruises until ships actually start sailing again. Have to see a ship moving. I will also wait until the cruise line has had one month of successful cruises without changes or cancellations. I currently have $1500 tied up with Oceania deposits since August 2019. I am supposed to cruise the Baltic on Marina Aug. 29, 2021. If by the time O wants the final payment they have not actually resumed cruises I will cancel myself and get the deposit back.