How Hopeful - March 2021

[smokeybandit]

On 11/29/2020 at 12:56 PM, Kokomo91165 said:

It will end up being later than that sadly. The CDC is requiring a 60 Day Advance Notice and Waiting period between the test cruise and first revenue sailing. 
 

So for example, Ship A:

 

Test Cruise 1: Jan 15

Test Cruise 2: Jan 30

CDC Review of Data: 14 Days

Advance Notice: 2/15

First Revenue Sail Date: 4/15

 

Also I read that if there is a coronavirus case onboard among crew, there is a 28 day waiting period that must occur. 

 

There's nothing stopping them from submitting their 60 day notice now, or even on Oct 30 when things were unlocked. They don't need to wait until test cruises happen.  Most of the requirements in the request for conditional sailing were a bunch of administrative items and "I promise" attestations.   They just need to do a test cruise, submit it to the CDC, and wait for approval.  I'd think the big hold up for test cruises is getting ships retrofitted with the extra medical equipment.

[Milwaukee Eight]

On 11/29/2020 at 12:31 PM, cellfree said:

Have not been following Royal’s threads even though I have a March 2021 cruise booked on Royal out of Tampa. Of course I realize none of us know when cruises will restart and if particular cruise lines will choose certain ports. Is March 2021 even a possibility out of Tampa? I am also wondering how far in advance Royal has been notifying people of cancellations? If I knew Tampa was definitely not an open port I would chance making a booking out of Miami. 

Not happening. Make your final payment and then wait for your refund. 
 

M8

[cellfree]

Well everything does take a follow-up phone call it seems. I did the "lift and shift" thing on-line, went from March 2021 to March 2022, and checked Cabin I was  given - I was on Deck 8 originally and new Cabin was Deck 2 - of course I called and was given a Cabin on Deck 8 - but would have been nice had that location been matched to start with - bottom line, all okay now - was a little surprised as many who have done this process have been given same if not very similar location. But again, thanks to all, as I said have not been following Royal's procedures and did not know about the "lift and shift" and it was the easiest for me to do.

[Hammergirl]

I have a question about this as well and I just got the dreaded final payment email from our TA for our March cruise. I have looked at the lift and shift option but unfortunately my room category is not available for any of the choices. What then? Do I not have any options then? We are in a 2 bedroom family suite. 

 

Also, I already have a FCC for our August cruise that we cancelled. Can I apply it to my March one, pay the final payment and wait for a refund if the March cruise is cancelled? What happens to my FCC then?

 

This is all so frustrating! Why are you collecting final payments on cruises month from now that will likely not happen? Why have they not adjusted their final payment dates to closer to the actual sail date?

[orville99]

21 hours ago, cellfree said:

It was an easy process - went from March 2021 to March 2022 - the form/process talked about taxes - but am I simply paying the difference in taxes if the taxes on new date are more than taxes on old date?

You will have to pay the difference. On the last L&S that we did, they miscalculated the taxes and fees. I would suggest that you go out to the website and do a mock booking on the cruise you are shifting to in order to get the correct T&F number. Had we not done that, we would not have known that they overcharged us on them when they shifted our cruise.

[cellfree]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

You will have to pay the difference. On the last L&S that we did, they miscalculated the taxes and fees. I would suggest that you go out to the website and do a mock booking on the cruise you are shifting to in order to get the correct T&F number. Had we not done that, we would not have known that they overcharged us on them when they shifted our cruise.

When I called to get the Cabin changed the agent sent me an updated invoice and it appears I owe $9.00 - not too ugly. Glad it's done, now I don't have to think about whether or not the Port of Tampa opens for cruises in March, I suspect "not."

[davekathy]

22 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Not happening. Make your final payment and then wait for your refund. 
 

M8

As much as I hate to agree with you, my glass is becoming less full and my rose colored glasses aren't as clear anymore. Even my Magic 8 Ball is saying, "outlook not so good!" But I'll make final payment on 4 December and wait for RC to cancel our B2B cruise for us to get the credit card refund. 

[island lady]

35 minutes ago, davekathy said:

As much as I hate to agree with you, my glass is becoming less full and my rose colored glasses aren't as clear anymore. Even my Magic 8 Ball is saying, "outlook not so good!" But I'll make final payment on 4 December and wait for RC to cancel our B2B cruise for us to get the credit card refund. 

 

Me too...sigh.  It's been months of Pay..refund..pay...refund..pay...refund.  I feel like a credit union, giving RCI short term loans...but not making any money on interest I should have charged!!  😮 😮 

[bigrednole]

We are booked for March 28 on OTS out of FLL. I do not see that happening as much as I want it to go. There are no real vacation options either. If it is canceled, we are left with our Summer cruise on Mardi Gras at the end of July. We will have to take a refund because all cruise prices in 2021 for the dates we could go on RCL are out of our league now. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

43 minutes ago, davekathy said:

As much as I hate to agree with you, my glass is becoming less full and my rose colored glasses aren't as clear anymore. Even my Magic 8 Ball is saying, "outlook not so good!" But I'll make final payment on 4 December and wait for RC to cancel our B2B cruise for us to get the credit card refund. 

I’m not doing anything more than deposit for some time. Good luck on yours. 
 

Quantum is sailing with no inside or ocean view cabins with passengers. Just Balcony and Suites. If they know this, why haven’t they begun to make the changes?

 

M8

[ownedbypets]

We are booked on Mariner at the end of February and final payment is next week. I know it's not sailing but I am going to make the final payment, take the FCC and apply it to another already booked cruise.

[Ourusualbeach]

5 hours ago, Hammergirl said:

I have a question about this as well and I just got the dreaded final payment email from our TA for our March cruise. I have looked at the lift and shift option but unfortunately my room category is not available for any of the choices. What then? Do I not have any options then? We are in a 2 bedroom family suite. 

 

Also, I already have a FCC for our August cruise that we cancelled. Can I apply it to my March one, pay the final payment and wait for a refund if the March cruise is cancelled? What happens to my FCC then?

 

This is all so frustrating! Why are you collecting final payments on cruises month from now that will likely not happen? Why have they not adjusted their final payment dates to closer to the actual sail date?

If you apply the FCC and the cruise is cancelled the FCC will be reissued with an expiry date of 12 months from the date of cancellation. 

[bigrednole]

I have looked at most cruises we could take on RCL for the rest of year when we can vacation. They are all now drastically out of our price range. I truly wanted to cruise with RCL, but they have priced us out of it now. All of the FCCs caused the prices to skyrocket. We rebooked our Thanksgiving cruise to Easter before RCL canceled. The cruise was $2100 for 3 of us. The minute they canceled the January cruises, our cruise went from $2100 to $5600.

[Sunshine3601]

17 hours ago, bigrednole said:

We are booked for March 28 on OTS out of FLL. I do not see that happening as much as I want it to go. There are no real vacation options either. If it is canceled, we are left with our Summer cruise on Mardi Gras at the end of July. We will have to take a refund because all cruise prices in 2021 for the dates we could go on RCL are out of our league now. 

Have you looked into lift n shift for mar 2021 to mar 2022?   You would be price protected then.  

[bigrednole]

1 minute ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Have you looked into lift n shift for mar 2021 to mar 2022?   You would be price protected then.  

We won't go that route and tie our money up any longer. We will just get the entire refund of cruise, taxes, add ons, etc and take that to a cruise that is more in line with our affordability. There are plenty of CCL and a few NCL cruises in our price range. 

[Sunshine3601]

3 minutes ago, bigrednole said:

We won't go that route and tie our money up any longer. We will just get the entire refund of cruise, taxes, add ons, etc and take that to a cruise that is more in line with our affordability. There are plenty of CCL and a few NCL cruises in our price range. 

Ok then make your final payment and you should have full cash refund within 2 to 3 weeks, if they cancel your sailing.      Another option is transfer the deposit you paid to date to another sailing.   Good luck!

[Iamcruzin]

On 11/29/2020 at 3:27 PM, lovescats5 said:

So we can kiss our Allure Feb 7 cruise good-bye?  I am afraid if they are not sailing by March or April there will be no cruise line left in business.  Wish the CDC could actually realize how many people and businesses will be gone because they will not let the cruise industry sail again.

Their concern is with people becoming sick not big business.

Edited December 2, 2020 by Iamcruzin

[orville99]

3 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Have you looked into lift n shift for mar 2021 to mar 2022?   You would be price protected then.  

We submitted a request to L&S our March 2021 Harmony to a 2022 date on Monday (the choices were all the Harmony cruises from 3/6/22 to 4/17/22, so we had a wide range of choices), and we're waiting on their confirmation for the one we chose - 4/17/22. We received the "You're all set" email, but haven't received the confirmation yet on whether they have approved the move. Hopefully we will hear somethin soon. I did go back in and check the reservation number and their system indicated that an L&S request had been submitted for that cruise.

[Sunshine3601]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We submitted a request to L&S our March 2021 Harmony to a 2022 date on Monday (the choices were all the Harmony cruises from 3/6/22 to 4/17/22, so we had a wide range of choices), and we're waiting on their confirmation for the one we chose - 4/17/22. We received the "You're all set" email, but haven't received the confirmation yet on whether they have approved the move. Hopefully we will hear somethin soon. I did go back in and check the reservation number and their system indicated that an L&S request had been submitted for that cruise.

Perfect.  Once you get your cabin assignment you can always call and change cabin just have to stay in same category.    

[orville99]

NCL just updated their suspensions through March for virtually their entire fleet:

 

"Updated December 2, 2020:    Your safety is our #1 priority—both on and off our ships. Due to the current global environment, we are extending the suspension of cruises to include all cruises embarking through February 2021. Additionally, we'll be suspending cruises in March 2021 for the following ships; Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Getaway, Norwegian Jade, Norwegian Jewel, Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Sky, Norwegian Sun, and Pride of America.

Currently, we have not suspended cruises in March 2021 for Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Encore and Norwegian Joy.

Guests who had an active reservation on a suspended cruises through March 2021 will automatically receive a refund of their cruise fare in the original form of a payment for the amount paid by January 7, 2021. Additionally, a 10% off coupon will be automatically added to the guest's account which is valid for one year from date of issue, and can be used for any Norwegian Cruise Line voyage embarking through 2022 and is combinable with any FCCs and all future promotions at time of booking.

Previously, we had announced the suspension of cruises on Norwegian Star, Norwegian Spirit, and Norwegian Dawn through March 2021. Refunds and discount Future Cruise Credits for those three ships have already been delivered."

[island lady]

3 minutes ago, orville99 said:

NCL just updated their suspensions through March for virtually their entire fleet:

 

"Updated December 2, 2020:    Your safety is our #1 priority—both on and off our ships. Due to the current global environment, we are extending the suspension of cruises to include all cruises embarking through February 2021. Additionally, we'll be suspending cruises in March 2021 for the following ships; Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Getaway, Norwegian Jade, Norwegian Jewel, Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Sky, Norwegian Sun, and Pride of America.

Currently, we have not suspended cruises in March 2021 for Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Encore and Norwegian Joy.

Guests who had an active reservation on a suspended cruises through March 2021 will automatically receive a refund of their cruise fare in the original form of a payment for the amount paid by January 7, 2021. Additionally, a 10% off coupon will be automatically added to the guest's account which is valid for one year from date of issue, and can be used for any Norwegian Cruise Line voyage embarking through 2022 and is combinable with any FCCs and all future promotions at time of booking.

Previously, we had announced the suspension of cruises on Norwegian Star, Norwegian Spirit, and Norwegian Dawn through March 2021. Refunds and discount Future Cruise Credits for those three ships have already been delivered."

 

wow...I like how NCL does their refunds for cancelled cruises...much better option than RCI!  🙂 

[Iamcruzin]

On 11/29/2020 at 6:02 PM, cellfree said:

It would certainly be helpful and “nice” if cruise lines let booked passengers know sooner than later if there are certain ships that will not cruise out of certain ports. That would free up our cash and encourage us to book out further. Seems all lines are handling cancellations in (sort of) the same way. 

If they cancel before final payment they won't have any revenue. Here we are almost a year into this disaster and so much is still up in the air even for the cruise lines. CDC keeps changing the rules so I don't know how the cruise lines can even know what to expect. Now they are scrambling change all of the itineraries longer than 7 days.  To think back in March people thought that they would be sailing by August. Now we don't even know what's to happen from now until November 1st 2021. If the CDC drops the 7 day limitation will the cruise lines go back and change to the original itineraries. I think not.

[cellfree]

2 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

CDC keeps changing the rules so I don't know how the cruise lines can even know what to expect.

Exactly, very frustrating for everyone.

[sandebeach]

21 minutes ago, orville99 said:

NCL just updated their suspensions through March for virtually their entire fleet:

 

"Updated December 2, 2020:    Your safety is our #1 priority—both on and off our ships. Due to the current global environment, we are extending the suspension of cruises to include all cruises embarking through February 2021. Additionally, we'll be suspending cruises in March 2021 for the following ships; Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Getaway, Norwegian Jade, Norwegian Jewel, Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Sky, Norwegian Sun, and Pride of America.

Currently, we have not suspended cruises in March 2021 for Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Encore and Norwegian Joy.

Guests who had an active reservation on a suspended cruises through March 2021 will automatically receive a refund of their cruise fare in the original form of a payment for the amount paid by January 7, 2021. Additionally, a 10% off coupon will be automatically added to the guest's account which is valid for one year from date of issue, and can be used for any Norwegian Cruise Line voyage embarking through 2022 and is combinable with any FCCs and all future promotions at time of booking.

Previously, we had announced the suspension of cruises on Norwegian Star, Norwegian Spirit, and Norwegian Dawn through March 2021. Refunds and discount Future Cruise Credits for those three ships have already been delivered."

I just saw this on a NCL fan FB group. Now I am watching for Royal to follow suit. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

2 minutes ago, sandebeach said:

I just saw this on a NCL fan FB group. Now I am watching for Royal to follow suit. 

Good luck