Cruising - What a mess!

[richfret]

Had a cruise booked for this month which was cancelled and so I booked another for for May.  Doubt May will take place so I cancelled it (I think) because my final payment was due.  Because of the cruising problems, my Cruise Agency is on the verge of bankruptcy and it is almost impossible to deal with.  They said the cruise would be cancelled and I would get an Email as confirmation.  Never got it.  They also said I would lose the deposit.  Be strange if the May cruise is actually cancelled and I lose my deposit for a cruise that never takes place.  You know Carnival will get a letter on that one.  Then if Carnival goes under, I have $1,300 in AARP gift cards that will turn to dust.  I am a Carnival VIP cruiser with 23 completed cruises which I enjoyed very much.  Am getting close to the 25th cruise and would be getting the VIP discount for the 25th cruise.  Will probably lose that also.  

 

You are probably in tears after reading this.  I know I am.  Oh well, I will just put on my mask and settle by the computer and watch the Miami web site to see the Carnival ships parked nicely at the pier that I will not be sailing.  More tears.

[pe4all]

Your story is so very much like thousands of others.  I feel for you and everyone else.  I have had 4 cruises cancelled so far.  Why was your final payment due so early?  It is usually due 3 months before sailing. I had a final payment due this past Sept., called CCL and they moved final payment to a month before the cruise. Since you are dealing with a Travel Agency that makes things a bit more complicated.  Good luck.  Hang in there - hopefully we will be cruising when covid dies down and vaccines really start hitting the general public.

[volfan22701]

we had 2 booked, and 1 got canceled and expecting the other would as well so we called and moved the money to 2 cruises in 2022, just writing off this year for cruising. not going to happen. will be taking a couple of beach vacations somewhere this summer and fall. it will end sometime and we can get back to a bit of normal. may never be like it once was but we can deal with it.

[j1d1]

If you cancel a Carnival cruise with a non-refundable deposit before Carnival cancels it, you forfeit the deposit. I have heard of people calling and not losing deposit before Carnival cancels if you are willing to take it as future cruise credit, but that is entirely at the discretion of the agent you talk to and not official Carnival policy. You would need to go through your travel agent which sounds like not a great option right now. Sorry for the situation, but it is cruising (or lack thereof) at the moment. 

[Roz]

In general, you're better off letting the cruise line cancel vs. canceling on your own.

[CruiserBruce]

If you look on the Holland America board (and perhaps on the Carnival board) you will see a thread discussing the very recent release of the Carnival Corp financials. In summary, there appears little risk Carnival is going to go out of business, unless there is no cruising into 2022. Then...still probably a small chance.

 

Many people are affected by this. Many, many, many people...

[clo]

3 hours ago, pe4all said:

Since you are dealing with a Travel Agency that makes things a bit more complicated.  

If I were OP I'd call the cruise line direct and explain that the TA is being quite unhelpful.

[2wheelin]

6 minutes ago, clo said:

If I were OP I'd call the cruise line direct and explain that the TA is being quite unhelpful.

I also, though never having dealt with it, think it is possible to call the cruise line and request they allow you to transfer to them. I would first make absolutely sure any money collected by the TA on your behalf has been forwarded to the cruise line and not being held by them.

[clo]

2 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

any money collected by the TA on your behalf has been forwarded to the cruise line and not being held by them.

 

[richfret]

11 hours ago, Roz said:

In general, you're better off letting the cruise line cancel vs. canceling on your own.

The problem is that if I wait for that, I have to make the final payment of a nearly $2,000 within the next couple of weeks with the possibility of losing that. 

[ldubs]

12 hours ago, Roz said:

In general, you're better off letting the cruise line cancel vs. canceling on your own.

 

1 hour ago, richfret said:

The problem is that if I wait for that, I have to make the final payment of a nearly $2,000 within the next couple of weeks with the possibility of losing that. 

 

What Roz says makes a lot of sense and we have been lucky enough to have that happen last fall.   But it happened well before the final payment.  I think I would make the same decision as you, meaning I would be prepared to cancel before making that final payment.  

 

BTW, I like the title of your thread.  "What a Mess" describes just about everything happening these days.   

[2wheelin]

21 hours ago, clo said:

 

I have asked you before to please stop quoting partial sentences which totally alter the meaning of what was written. I know you often have a difficult time interpreting other’s comments correctly and this sheds some light on that problem.

BTW, why did you quote me (incorrectly) when you had no comment?

[BoozinCroozin]

11 hours ago, richfret said:

The problem is that if I wait for that, I have to make the final payment of a nearly $2,000 within the next couple of weeks with the possibility of losing that. 

In every likelihood, you will not lose your money. It will be tied up, but not lost. I am 100% skeptical our July cruise will go. I was 90/10 at the start of 2021 and now 50/50 and declining. I am so skeptical I am not sure we will even book one for late 2021. 

 

There are no good options for vacations. In my case, I need entertainment for a teenager that I can trust to be off on her own. There are no places to go that I can trust that at the moment. We will have to take weekend vacations only until we can take a real vacation.

[Roz]

13 hours ago, richfret said:

The problem is that if I wait for that, I have to make the final payment of a nearly $2,000 within the next couple of weeks with the possibility of losing that. 

 

I understand that.  I was in the same situation.  But you can't have it both ways.  You either cancel on your own and accept the consequences or pay in full and accept the terms offered by the cruise line if they cancel.

[clo]

2 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

I have asked you before to please stop quoting partial sentences which totally alter the meaning of what was written. I know you often have a difficult time interpreting other’s comments correctly and this sheds some light on that problem.

BTW, why did you quote me (incorrectly) when you had no comment?

I was agreeing with you, darlin'.

[evandbob]

43 minutes ago, Roz said:

 

I understand that.  I was in the same situation.  But you can't have it both ways.  You either cancel on your own and accept the consequences or pay in full and accept the terms offered by the cruise line if they cancel.

I had a cruise booked for Nov 2020 and just before final payment I called Carnival and rescheduled for Nov 2021 with the same deposit.  When that final payment comes round, I'll have to decide if it's safe to pay or call to push further into the future.

I have maybe 3 times the amount of AARP gift cards from other cancelled cruises and getting close to 50 Carnival cruises, so I can feel the OP's anguish.

[iancal]

We feel very fortunate that we had nothing booked, cruises or otherwise, and did/do  not have to deal with refunds, future credits, or  booking/rebooking windows.

 

The entire business has turned us off booking cruises at this time until we are confident of what the on board environment will be, what ports will truly be open vs the itinerary, and what, if any, restrictions there will be in those ports.

 

We have a few travel plans in mind but we are definitely not seriously shopping, buying, or  placing deposits on anything.  Too many unknowns for us.

[Top_of_the_Cube]

At this time, we do not have enough freedom in our schedules and the financial reserves to participate in the "is it going to get cancelled" game.  Otherwise, I bet my wife would keep shooting for trying to get on that first available sailing.

 

As it stands, I will just wait until after the first sailings from US ports actually occur, and determine if the restrictions will interfere with what we would consider an enjoyable cruise experience.

[davekathy]

On 1/12/2021 at 8:37 AM, Roz said:

In general, you're better off letting the cruise line cancel vs. canceling on your own.

Agree. We've got three cruises in the que and all three with non refundable deposits. We'll wait for the cruise lines to cancel (even if we have to make final payments) then take the cash refund option. Not interested in any FCCs. 

[2wheelin]

4 hours ago, clo said:

I was agreeing with you, darlin'.

But you misquoted me!!! And then agreed? With what?

And you can call me darlin’ when we’re sleeping in the same bed. Eww. Not happenin’ sugar plum.

[clo]

38 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

With what?

"I would first make absolutely sure any money collected by the TA on your behalf has been forwarded to the cruise line and not being held by them."

 

THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[AlanRRT]

I had a Pacific Coastal Cruise on NCL for April 2021 that I booked pre Covid.  I'd been sending in payments monthly so that it would be paid off before we go.  My bride and I decided that it would work better for us to do a Hawaii cruise in October 2021 instead, so cancelled and booked the Hawaii cruise.  Now, instead of sending money to NCL each month I transfer it to my savings account.  If something goes wrong, worst case scenario NCL goes bankrupt, I have control of my money rather than NCL.  With the current mess, it's best to be on the safe side.