Alaska Cruises Cancelled for 2021

[silversneakers]

On 2/25/2021 at 2:43 PM, cruiserchuck said:

I read that only the ones sailing to or from a Canadian port have been cancelled.  So the cruises to/from Seattle are still on schedule (for now.)

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/news/impacted-cruises.html

 

 

 

I have one out of Seattle and it has not been cancelled as of 3/16

 

[YXU AC*SE]

Alas, Alaska out of Seattle now paused through June 2021.    Scott. 

source: https://gohal.com/app/uploads/2021/03/SeattleJunePause21-FINAL.docx

 

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by YXU AC*SE

[CruiseMGM]

1 hour ago, silversneakers said:

I have one out of Seattle and it has not been cancelled as of 3/16

 

Announcement on a FB post this morning that HAL's Seattle cruises to Alaska in June (2021) have now been canceled. For July and onward, there's apparently still discussions on-going. Can't seem to link to the FB announcement, probably available on the latest HAL blog post.

 

Best wishes.

Oh, YXU, you beat me to it, and with the screen shot, thank you!

Edited March 16, 2021 by CruiseMGM
Update.

[kazu]

42 minutes ago, CruiseMGM said:

Announcement on a FB post this morning that HAL's Seattle cruises to Alaska in June (2021) have now been canceled. For July and onward, there's apparently still discussions on-going. Can't seem to link to the FB announcement, probably available on the latest HAL blog post.

 

Best wishes.

Oh, YXU, you beat me to it, and with the screen shot, thank you!

 

Here is the announcement

 

[Ffej207]

The pessimist in me says they're waiting for final payment dates to cancel each month. We're getting towards running out of time to staff both the ships and Alaska. Our final payment is due in April and I'd rather know before, rather than having my money tied up in a cruise over a year away.

[Cruise Suzy]

Perhaps they are cancelling a month at a time in order to not hire additional staff to handle all the cancellation transactions at once? 

[Loreto]

4 hours ago, Ffej207 said:

The pessimist in me says they're waiting for final payment dates to cancel each month. We're getting towards running out of time to staff both the ships and Alaska. Our final payment is due in April and I'd rather know before, rather than having my money tied up in a cruise over a year away.

Our final payment is due at the end of March for our July 10 Eurodam Alaska family cruise (rebooked from last summer)  I am not optimistic but this time would be agreeable to being automatically rebooked for 2022 at the price we paid for 2021.  I already asked my son if he would like to try for next year and he said yes.   I don't see how HAL can get things ready to sail on short notice.  The ship was not well booked before they stopped taking bookings.  Not sure I want to be part of their great experiment, but we are fully vaccinated now.

[knittinggirl]

I still haven't been reimbursed for the Yukon/Alaska shore excursions for 2021.  I found the cruise in 2021 replaced with the same on in 2022, bought a shore excursions since only two slots were left.  And now it's disappeared completely.  The new reservation had been a guarantee, and I never book guarantees.  We always want a specific room. 

 

But now I have no room, and no refunds.

 

What's happening?

[nocl]

1 hour ago, knittinggirl said:

I still haven't been reimbursed for the Yukon/Alaska shore excursions for 2021.  I found the cruise in 2021 replaced with the same on in 2022, bought a shore excursions since only two slots were left.  And now it's disappeared completely.  The new reservation had been a guarantee, and I never book guarantees.  We always want a specific room. 

 

But now I have no room, and no refunds.

 

What's happening?

Have to talked to the cruise line or your TA if you went through one?

[knittinggirl]

10 hours ago, nocl said:

Have to talked to the cruise line or your TA if you went through one?

That's on the agenda today.  I did send a message to my personal cruise consultant at HAL.

[bajakiter]

I am curious. Were most of these cruises booked a year ago, in other words, before covid? Or during this covid pandemic? We are now in the "fear of missing out" stage for spring of 2022 but still think chances are slim for cruising by then. There is an enormous pent up demand and once everything opens up costs will sky rocket. That is if one is even able to find an available flight, hotel room, cruise etc.

[Cruise Suzy]

23 minutes ago, bajakiter said:

Were most of these cruises booked a year ago, in other words, before covid? Or during this covid pandemic?

 

DH and I booked our July 2021 cruise (RT from Seattle) in October 2019. We now fully expect it to be cancelled. We began to have serious doubts in December 2020, so booked the same itinerary for July 2022. Since our state requires full insurance refund for all cancelled (for any reason) cruises, we risked nothing but a little interest. If the the 2021 cruise goes, we cancel the 2022 one and get deposit & insurance back. If HAL cancels the 2021 one, we can apply that refund/FCC to the 2022 one and the 2021 insurance fee will be refunded.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Cruise Suzy

[oaktreerb]

6 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

DH and I booked our July 2021 cruise (RT from Seattle) in October 2019. We now fully expect it to be cancelled. We began to have serious doubts in December 2020, so booked the same itinerary for July 2022. Since our state requires full insurance refund for all cancelled (for any reason) cruises, we risked nothing but a little interest. If the the 2021 cruise goes, we cancel the 2022 one and get deposit & insurance back. If HAL cancels the 2021 one, we can apply that refund/FCC to the 2022 one and the 2021 insurance fee will be refunded.

What state do you live in that requires full insurance refund for all cancelled cruises?

[ehogan]

B.C. Provincial Health Officer stated an hour ago will be no cruises in B.C. waters this year.  She has the authority for this and is not known to change her mind.

 

[Cruise Suzy]

3 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

What state do you live in that requires full insurance refund for all cancelled cruises?

FL As long as you don't request any reimbursement from the insurance company and your travel has not started, you get a full refund.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Cruise Suzy

[Vict0riann]

3 hours ago, ehogan said:

B.C. Provincial Health Officer stated an hour ago will be no cruises in B.C. waters this year.  She has the authority for this and is not known to change her mind.

 

She also said "no international travel" for us this year - that was a shock.  I just hope things change...

[d9704011]

11 hours ago, ehogan said:

B.C. Provincial Health Officer stated an hour ago will be no cruises in B.C. waters this year.  She has the authority for this and is not known to change her mind.

 

I don’t believe she does have the authority for this; shipping (and cruising) into Canadian ports is regulated by the Federal government.  Of course they have already said NO to cruising into Canada for this year for ships over a certain size.  The BC Health Officer could very well disallow passengers to disembark in BC but that’s sort of a moot point now as they won’t be arriving in any event.

[d9704011]

8 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

She also said "no international travel" for us this year - that was a shock.  I just hope things change...

Well, OK.....  Technically, there isn’t much stopping you from leaving Canada for an international trip (by air, if there is a flight).  Now, whether your preferred destination will let you in and all the hassles you may have to endure to get back into Canada are things you can deal with are sort of up to you.

[oaktreerb]

15 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

FL As long as you don't request any reimbursement from the insurance company and your travel has not started, you get a full refund.

Thanks for responding.  I wish we had that law in California!  

[knittinggirl]

On 3/18/2021 at 7:24 AM, knittinggirl said:

That's on the agenda today.  I did send a message to my personal cruise consultant at HAL.

Neither HAL told me to contact my TA, and my TA hasn't returned my messages in weeks.

[cruiserchuck]

6 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

Thanks for responding.  I wish we had that law in California!  

 

I assume the reason you do not get a refund is that you in essence already used part of the insurance by the time the cruise was cancelled.  You had protection for certain events from the time you purchased the insurance to the time it was cancelled.

 

Years ago I purchased insurance for a Renaissance cruise, and when they filed bankruptcy, I contacted my insurance company. They told me I needed to pursue a credit card refund first, which I successfully did.  I then told the insurance company that since they did not pay anything, I wanted a refund.  They made me sign an agreement I would not submit a claim against them, and they refunded my premium.  

[oaktreerb]

42 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

I assume the reason you do not get a refund is that you in essence already used part of the insurance by the time the cruise was cancelled.  You had protection for certain events from the time you purchased the insurance to the time it was cancelled.

 

Years ago I purchased insurance for a Renaissance cruise, and when they filed bankruptcy, I contacted my insurance company. They told me I needed to pursue a credit card refund first, which I successfully did.  I then told the insurance company that since they did not pay anything, I wanted a refund.  They made me sign an agreement I would not submit a claim against them, and they refunded my premium.  

My cruise to Hawaii  March 2020 was cancelled.  The insurance company after rejecting my claim for a refund of the insurance premium decided on appeal that I could have a voucher to apply to the insurance on another trip.  When I applied that voucher to my August 2021 Alaska trip they insisted that I add an additional amount for the new trip.  The Alaska 2021 trip has now been cancelled by the cruise line and moved to 2022.  So, now that I have confirmed the HAL booking # for the replacement cruise I will call the insurance company to transfer the insurance to the identical 2022 itinerary.  I will be 2 years older than the first cancelled trip and the insurance company factors in age.  Wish me luck!

 

I have never benefitted in any way from that original insurance purchase.  

[cruiserchuck]

1 hour ago, oaktreerb said:

I have never benefitted in any way from that original insurance purchase.  

 

Even though you did not make any claims, you still were covered for certain events, that if they had occurred, would have entitled you to payments.  Assuming you had supplier default coverage, you were covered in the event HAL filed bankruptcy and did not refund your payments.  The fact that this did not happen does not mean you did not benefit from coverage for that time period.  

[oaktreerb]

22 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

Even though you did not make any claims, you still were covered for certain events, that if they had occurred, would have entitled you to payments.  Assuming you had supplier default coverage, you were covered in the event HAL filed bankruptcy and did not refund your payments.  The fact that this did not happen does not mean you did not benefit from coverage for that time period.  

If I had insured through the cruise line I would have had the insurance payment refunded when they cancelled the cruise.

[knittinggirl]

My cruises for 2020 and 2021 both missing due to HAL glitch, were from my Hawaii cruise for 2020.  No cruise refunds, so I had a lot of cruise credit.