Cruising out of the US in April?

[Keys Kathy]

On 1/24/2021 at 5:36 PM, DrSea said:

I saw that there are some cruises out of FL in April, and I am thinking about booking them. Any guesses on if they will cancel the trips to the Caribbean in April 2021? I have to book PTO, and it is a headache to reschedule it. 

 

Thanks for any input or feedback

 

 

(Before anyone chastises me for cruising during a pandemic, I am fully vaccinated and in my 30s, so I am low risk for COVID.)

We had our first shot on the 18th and our 2nd on the 9th. We will be all set for our April 17th sailing. It will be our 30th Anniversary. We can't move THAT date. 

 

If they cancel and the extra 25% doesn't cover the same cabin in Yacht Club on another date, we will get a refund. I certainly do not want to sail in the summer with screaming kids. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

45 minutes ago, Keys Kathy said:

We had our first shot on the 18th and our 2nd on the 9th. We will be all set for our April 17th sailing. It will be our 30th Anniversary. We can't move THAT date. 

 

If they cancel and the extra 25% doesn't cover the same cabin in Yacht Club on another date, we will get a refund. I certainly do not want to sail in the summer with screaming kids. 

I lot of the “screaming kids” are better behaved than the adults.

[Keys Kathy]

1 hour ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

I lot of the “screaming kids” are better behaved than the adults.

I never had a problem in Yacht Club. If there are a few noisey ones, we move to another part of the lounge or pool area. 

[cellfree]

Sunday January 31, no April cancellations yet, maybe tomorrow February 1, waiting.

[hamrag]

2 hours ago, Keys Kathy said:

We had our first shot on the 18th and our 2nd on the 9th. We will be all set for our April 17th sailing. It will be our 30th Anniversary. We can't move THAT date.....

 

I'd agree you cannot move the date of your 30th anniversary...that is impossible...but, believe us, there will be no cruise sailing out of the USA on April 17th. 😉

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

A lot of the “screaming kids” are better behaved than the adults.

Very true, in our experience also.

Edited January 31, 2021 by hamrag

[Sunshine3601]

1 hour ago, hamrag said:

 

I'd agree you cannot move the date of your 30th anniversary...that is impossible...but, believe us, there will be no cruise sailing out of the USA on April 17th. 😉

I highly doubt my cruise booked for May will happen.  April is a 125% no go out of the US. 

[dexddd]

10 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I highly doubt my cruise booked for May will happen.  April is a 125% no go out of the US. 

If you ever see it.  Coming up on 11 months waiting for that 125% FCC.

[Keys Kathy]

Ok, it is after five on the 1st of the month and no cancellation yet. I have my fingers crossed!

[Geobugs]

Fingers also crossed.

[NCTribeFan]

I don't think there's any way April is a go.  MSC is not cancelling as early as a lot of other lines.  Most have cancelled April and some considerably farther out.  MSC didn't cancel March until mid-January so it's only been a couple of weeks.  I just don't see them announcing another round this quickly.

 

I still have a couple of weeks before final payment is due on the 4-night leg of the B2B and I'm hoping they put out the cancellation notice soon.  I'll just cancel it myself on final payment date if they don't and I'll take the FCC for the 7-night leg (which I've already had to pay-in-full) when it happens.

[dexddd]

Yeah, MSC seems to be late in cancels.  The mouse is done through April and two ships done through June and July.

[Keys Kathy]

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

Yeah, MSC seems to be late in cancels.  The mouse is done through April and two ships done through June and July.

MSC is sailing in Europe, so perhaps they will be the line in the US that shows how it is done. It looks like they have figured it all out. I see the ship is at the Port of Miami. 

 

No cancellation yet, and I do not see any mass cancellations by passengers. 

 

The glass is FULL!

[sidari]

1 hour ago, Keys Kathy said:

MSC is sailing in Europe, so perhaps they will be the line in the US that shows how it is done. It looks like they have figured it all out. I see the ship is at the Port of Miami. 

 

No cancellation yet, and I do not see any mass cancellations by passengers. 

 

The glass is FULL!

Sailing in Europe is s different animal to the US where MSC would have to follow the CDC dictats regardless of how they are doing from Genoa.

[paulh84]

An April restart in the US, which would be 58 to 87 days from today, is extremely unlikely if you read the CDC's order and put the timeline together. Carnival has been on record recently saying they don't have a clear picture of what the next steps are even after weekly meetings with the CDC. 

[Keys Kathy]

Yet another day has gone by without a cancellation..... 🙂

[Geobugs]

There is hope!

[sidari]

MSC have announced cancellations from US ports until the end of April according to Cruise Hive.

[SeaHunt]

If you haven't already seen this April from the US is now cancelled 😔

 

"MSC Cruises announced today a further extension of the temporary pause of its U.S.-based sailings through to and including April 30, 2021, according to a press release. 

 

The decision will affect the schedules of three ships based in Florida: the MSC Divina scheduled to sail from Port Canaveral, and the MSC Meraviglia and MSC Armonia scheduled to sail from PortMiami.

 

Guests paid in full and booked through MSC Cruises USA or affiliated U.S.-based travel advisors on the impacted sailings between April 1, 2021 and April 30, 2021 will be offered a 125 percent future cruise credit (FCC) of the original cruise fare to be used on any future cruise of their choice — on any ship, and any itinerary that is open for sale – or can request a refund. 

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/24314-msc-cruises-extends-u-s-pause-through-april-2021.html

[NCTribeFan]

Hmmm.  My email sounds like you get an FCC no matter whether you've paid-in-full or not.  I have paid for my 7-night but only had the deposit on the 4-night.  Not a big deal, since the 4-night deposit was only $50, but I had planned on requesting that as a refund.

 

Nothing like the earlier cancellations that said something like, "once you get your FCC, you can call and request a refund."  This simply says...

 

As a guest booked through MSC Cruises USA, if you have already paid for your cruise in full, we will provide you a 125% Future Cruise Credit of your original cruise fare paid, excluding government taxes and fee. If you have not yet made final payment on your cruise and you are outside of the final payment window, we will automatically provide a Future Cruise Credit for the value of your deposit PLUS 25% of the original cruise fare, excluding government taxes and fee.

 

I'm guessing they don't really mean they'll give me an FCC for my $50 deposit PLUS "25% of the original cruise fare" since I haven't paid for that full cruise fare.  But, hey, if they want to give that to me, I'll take it!

 

Sigh.  I almost never book balcony cabins (as a solo, they just cost more than I want to pay), but had booked one for the 11 nights.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

We received our cancellation notice today too - it says that we can request a refund during a specific time frame once the FCC is issued if we prefer:

 

We hope you appreciate the increased value of the Future Cruise Credit and choose to sail with MSC Cruises in the near future. However, if you prefer a refund, after receiving your Future Cruise Credit, please call our Cruise Consultants at 866-420-3584 between March 1, 2021 and March 31, 2021. At that time, we will deactivate your Future Cruise Credit and process your refund. Note, we can only process your refund once you’ve received your Future Cruise Credit. If you are outside of final payment, and prefer a refund of your deposit, our normal cancellation policies apply.

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, NCTribeFan said:

I'm guessing they don't really mean they'll give me an FCC for my $50 deposit PLUS "25% of the original cruise fare" since I haven't paid for that full cruise fare.  But, hey, if they want to give that to me, I'll take it!....

Exactly my reaction when our October 2020 MSC cruise was cancelled....good news though, they did exactly what it said on the tin....awesome!

[Geobugs]

I booked my April 10th cruise with FCC from Dec. 12th.  I get nothing 😞

[paulh84]

19 minutes ago, hamrag said:

Exactly my reaction when our October 2020 MSC cruise was cancelled....good news though, they did exactly what it said on the tin....awesome!

 

Do FCC's expire? If they do, this works out in their favor although it seems a bit backward on the surface.

[Muushka]

3 hours ago, Geobugs said:

I booked my April 10th cruise with FCC from Dec. 12th.  I get nothing 😞

How does this work?  We had a cancelled 10/20 cruise.  They gave us 125% of the cruise cost (not on our deposit which is all they had at that point, but the total cruise cost).

So our 4/18/21 cruise which was paid in full was $4544.  They applied $1974 from the cancelled cruise (even though we only had given them $200 deposit total).

So how much credit will we get towards a new cruise?  Which number will it be based on, the cancelled cruise cost ($4544) or what we paid towards it (4544-1974FCC) = $2570?

 

We would have preferred a cruise in April!