EZ Air - what would happen if Princess cancels the cruise within the 45 days period?

[nho9504]

We have not used EZ Air in the past., because we usually go to Asia or Australia after a Transatlantic cruise / spend some time in Europe.   Then come back to US from where we finish our whole trip.  So we use miles.   With the Pandemic our old way of travel would not work.  So I am looking at EZ Air for the first time, and found that the pricing is quite reasonable.  In some cases it beats using the miles (but also sacrifices the flexibility of award tickets).

 

Princess leaves for Europe the earliest, hoping to catch the tail end of winter vacation by the Brits, as all other lines leave at the traditional Mid Apr to Early May time.  Now their strategy may backfire.

 

My worry is, our March 12 Sky Princess Transatlantic might not sail as scheduled if Omicron continues its rampage.   What would happen to the tickets if our cruise is canceled by Princess?  like UK does not allow ships to come...   

 

Has anyone had experiences in similar situation, in a "normal" time, i.e. no massive cancellations and pauses between Mar 2020 to Jun 2021, but just a more "normal" cancellation of individual cruise, how Princess handles the EZ Air tickets, esp on a Transatlantic return, or any kind of one way, return ticket?  Since if there is no cruise, there is no need for the return ticket.

 

TIA for any info!

[kiwimum]

We had multiple cruises cancelled with EZAir flights with all funds refunded even those that were ticketed.  It did take time, but the funds were returned to original method of payment.

[nho9504]

Hi Kiwimum,

 

Were your cruises canceled by Princess during the Pauses in the Pandemic time?  Or were cruises being canceled not due to the Pauses, just being canceled under circumstances the sailings were not possible?

 

I know all those affected cruises got everything refunded although it did take a very long time.

 

 

[Ride-The-Waves]

Azamara, Cunard, Viking, Oceania, MSC and a gaggle of other cruise lines all reposition ships from the Caribbean to the Med in March/April.  Cruise ship schedules are planned out some 2-plus years, emergency conditions excepted. Sky Princess has a well booked cruise down to the Canaries following its March trans-Atlantic.

 

My experience with EZ Air is very favorable, especially for international travel.  Less so for US domestic flights.  Agents will work with you to find the best least-cost routing, especially flying business class.

 

Its highly unlikely the 12 march sailing "will not sail."  Princess has commitments for Sky in Europe that would be costly to change.  Unless something drastic and unforeseen happens, such as the EU, US and UK closing down all travel, expect that 12 March sailing to go as scheduled.

[nho9504]

@Ride-The-Waves

 

Thank you for your input.

 

Indeed the 12 days Canary Islands cruise after the Transatlantic commands high prices, a sure sign of robust booking.

 

I do not need agent assisting on routing as the options shown online, if bookable, have all the info needed.

 

My concern is as the title of this thread - which Kiwimum gave me her experiences though not detailed enough as whether those cancellations from the Pauses or more "normal" time.

 

Have you had your own experiences to the above? 

 

Glad you mention about the possibility of EU possible closes down (leisure) travel - France is doing exactly that, banning unessential travels from UK.  Italy now requires pre-departure test with Spain being the most lenient only full vaccination.   The Netherlands are in a lock down, again...  Poland requires 14 days quarantine on travellers from UK...

 

This brings up yet another concern - even the cruise is a Go, but the country from where we would depart, bans leisure travelers from UK, would Princess Air assist the rebooking?  and at what costs?

 

Do you have anything from personal experiences to share on the above scenario?

 

Right now the Flexible fares are surprisingly much cheaper than the restrictive fares shown on EZ Air booking screen.  With checking I would imagine the EZ Air fares would also much cheaper than booking direct with the airlines, as this is one way ticket.  I am just amazed by how low some of the business class fares are, shown on EZ Air side.  It is because of that, it prompts me to consider using EZ Air and not award tickets which we have in place,.

Edited January 3, 2022 by nho9504
Added more content

[kiwimum]

1 hour ago, nho9504 said:

Hi Kiwimum,

 

Were your cruises canceled by Princess during the Pauses in the Pandemic time?  Or were cruises being canceled not due to the Pauses, just being canceled under circumstances the sailings were not possible?

 

I know all those affected cruises got everything refunded although it did take a very long time.

 

 

We have had cruises cancelled at the beginning of the Pandemic and then rebooked cruises.   All cruises were cancelled by Princess.      
I would not book any flights that could not be cancelled with a full refund in these times.   We have used EZAir for years and have found their Business Class pricing very good.    Also made changes.after final payment, prior to ticketing with no issues.

[nho9504]

Thank you Kiwimum.

 

Agree 100% that in these times, one should not book any flights that could not be cancelled with a full refund. 

 

I saw last night it showed Jan 22nd being the deadline to cancel and get full refund - I guess that is the 45 days before departure date.

 

No idea WHEN EZ Air would ticket the flight as this would be our first time if we go for this option.  With the final payment date of our March 12 cruise long gone, I would assume the payment for flight is immediately at booking but then is fully refundable up till the deadline Jan 22nd being 45 days prior to Mar 12,

 

I guess we would know more by Mid January whether we should take this cruise or not - we have up to 30 days before sailing to get full refund of the 100% cancellation fee under the CwC which covers thru Apr 22 sailing IIRC.  

 

Sigh.

[Ride-The-Waves]

As I would tell my spouse, you may be over-thinking the problem.  Need to remember that "stuff happens," and its happening more frequently in the era of COVID-19. Remain flexible, go with the flow and carry-on as the Brits say.

 

We have only had good experiences with EZAir on international flights.  Their agents have worked with us to rearrange travel when airline schedules were unworkable. One case they were able to reschedule flights from the US east coast to OZ through ATL when the original booking came back with an ATL connection time of 45 mins, "legal" connection in airline parlance.  Generally unworkable during summer thunderstorm weather if trying to connect to an ATL-LAX leg of the flight SYD.  They found us a much better connection and saved us $500 each! On the other hand, Celebrity Air once provided a 4-leg trip between TPA and YQB via stops in Texas, Chicago and Newark - with one flight leaving before the other arrived.  Rebooked and overnighted at EWR - two leg trip.

 

We are also on the 12 March Sky sailing and watching conditions closely. We have follow-on travel planned into the Netherlands flying back to the US from AMS.  Staying positive but also looking at alternatives, to include flying home day of arrival Southampton.  The Netherlands segment is still three months away...and a lot could change.

[Syracusefan44]

33 minutes ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

As I would tell my spouse, you may be over-thinking the problem.  Need to remember that "stuff happens," and its happening more frequently in the era of COVID-19. Remain flexible, go with the flow and carry-on as the Brits say.

 

We have only had good experiences with EZAir on international flights.  Their agents have worked with us to rearrange travel when airline schedules were unworkable. One case they were able to reschedule flights from the US east coast to OZ through ATL when the original booking came back with an ATL connection time of 45 mins, "legal" connection in airline parlance.  Generally unworkable during summer thunderstorm weather if trying to connect to an ATL-LAX leg of the flight SYD.  They found us a much better connection and saved us $500 each! On the other hand, Celebrity Air once provided a 4-leg trip between TPA and YQB via stops in Texas, Chicago and Newark - with one flight leaving before the other arrived.  Rebooked and overnighted at EWR - two leg trip.

 

We are also on the 12 March Sky sailing and watching conditions closely. We have follow-on travel planned into the Netherlands flying back to the US from AMS.  Staying positive but also looking at alternatives, to include flying home day of arrival Southampton.  The Netherlands segment is still three months away...and a lot could change.

I cancelled my 1/19/22 cruise to Hawaii at 35 days and my EZ Air flexible flights were refunded in the form of a FCC.

[nho9504]

@Syracusefan44

 

Thanks a lot for the info.  When is the FCC expiration date?  Can the FCC be used for anything, not just for EZ Air?

 

@Ride-The-Waves

Yeah, may be I am thinking too much.   Glad to know you are booked on the same ship.

 

The current UK covid test protocol, on Pre / Arrive / During time in England, are getting too much to us.  Not only you need to have a negative test pre,  (assume Princess would provide), but also on Day 2 of Arrival (needed to have a proof of a Prebooked / Paid appointment to enter UK, and that is 50 GBP  from what I read), and Day 8 of Arrival or an option to test on Day 5 ... I haven't looked into the details yet.  Back in Oct I had a land trip to Europe initially was London, then Nice, and Paris from where to fly home.  Due to the UK covid protocol and the France handling of travellers from UK, I deleted London from the trip... 

 

Currently we have only loose ideas on the post cruise travel - 

 

Spend 8 days in London.

 

then fly to Naples where we pick up a rental car to visit the Southern region of the West side, all the way to the "Toe"  (We had a driving trip at the Eastern part in 2019, very much enjoyed it).  

 

From Napes we train to Rome where to spend a few days. 

 

Then from Rome  fly to some town in Andalusia, do a little bit driving along the Cota del Sol. 

 

Go to Barcelona to fly home  because I only see Spain airports have direct flights to go home offered by EZ Air,  all others I see a connection.  Not to mention that  Spain airport taxes are much cheaper, it is 1/3 or less than German airports for example, and less than 1/4 or 1/6 out from UK airports (Coach/business). This translates to $300 or more price difference per person on airfares and $500 or more price difference per person if fly back from FRA or LHR.  I always avoid departing from any UK airport due to the horrendous taxes and passenger duty (just another name for yet another tax, and is to go up again!)

 

Yes, the European airport taxes often determine how we map our itinerary in Europe whether it is a pure land trip or a pre / post cruise trip.

 

And yes, it is a slightly involved trip that while it is a piece of cake in normal time (we do RTWs at least one time a year, often more than one time, in crazy routing), it may not be a good idea during a Pandemic.

 

Once we can get to EU I think the covid protocol among EU members are much easier to handle.  It is UK that has both cumbersome issues inside UK AND between UK and EU.   If UK remains on the current highly complicated / totally inefficient / and very costly, test protocol by the deadline of the CwC protection, we may have to cancel this cruise.

 

FWIW the original plan was to spend some time in EU then  fly from EU to Hong Kong, then return home from Hong Kong.   Now I believe Hong Kong will not drop its 21 days quarantine until 2023, so this plan died.  I canceled a FRA-HKG award ticket, and replaced it with a FRA-US ticket, which can be canceled 2 hours before departure and everything refunded - miles to FFP, taxes to credit card.