The Waiting Game

[jlseymour3]

We have a cruise in early February on the Getaway.  My parents are leaning towards canceling, which would mean we would too.  If we cancel before 1/31, we get an FCC, but if Norwegian cancels, we likely get a full refund.  Much, much betterer.  Norwegian seems to be waiting until the day or two before the next canceled cruise, then cancels a bunch over a week or two at one time.  So . . . it is certainly possible they would cancel our 2/2 cruise on 2/1.  Especially if they don't extend the 1/31/22 deadline for getting a full FCC for cancelation.  So, the smart play is to wait until the last minute to cancel (if that's the decision), but I'm thinking the phone lines might be absolutely jammed on 1/31 and maybe even 1/30 with people canceling winter and spring cruises before the deadline.

 

So, how would you play this?  How long would you wait until pulling the plug, if you were going to cancel? 

[itsnotjustme]

I played the waiting game and NCL won.  Today I am cancelling my 16 Jan Epic sailing for an FCC.  When the new batch of cancellations came out yesterday and my ship was not on it, it was game over for me.

 

Airline credits, hotel point credits (I bought the points as a cheaper alternative to the sky-high San Juan hotel rates), trip insurance credit, and NCL credit.  Over $10K tied up in credits.  Hope no one goes bankrupt on me.

[nhtravels]

We are playing the same game as you, for the Bliss Panama Canal  (2/4).  It's a 16 day cruise for us.  The cruise before us is the Bliss from LA to MIA, so that we can do MIA to LA.   If they can't make the journey, NCL will have to cancel ours.

 

We paid for it (Haven cabin) with a mix of over $13K in FCC and 6K in cash.  I would rather NCL cancel, so we can at least get some of the cash back than have 19k back in FCC!  That FCC just keeps cycling and cycling.  We did just go on the Encore and it was wonderful.  But I don't know if I could handle a 16 day cruise with all the ports turning us away, thus becoming a 16 day at sea situation!

 

We are going to wait.  We are however, canceling our shore excursions and prepaid today.  Just in case I have to enact POM.  

 

Good luck with your decision.  I know it's not an easy one.

[jlseymour3]

2 hours ago, nhtravels said:

We are playing the same game as you, for the Bliss Panama Canal  (2/4).  It's a 16 day cruise for us.  The cruise before us is the Bliss from LA to MIA, so that we can do MIA to LA.   If they can't make the journey, NCL will have to cancel ours.

 

We paid for it (Haven cabin) with a mix of over $13K in FCC and 6K in cash.  I would rather NCL cancel, so we can at least get some of the cash back than have 19k back in FCC!  That FCC just keeps cycling and cycling.  We did just go on the Encore and it was wonderful.  But I don't know if I could handle a 16 day cruise with all the ports turning us away, thus becoming a 16 day at sea situation!

 

We are going to wait.  We are however, canceling our shore excursions and prepaid today.  Just in case I have to enact POM.  

 

Good luck with your decision.  I know it's not an easy one.

 

Yup, once we make a firm decision to cancel we'll cancel the prepaids and get those refunded now.  We did the Panama Canal Cruise and it was a wonderful cruise.  Every port had it's own attraction and we had a great time everywhere except Acapulco, where the excursion was not great and my genius son the med student thought having raw oysters in Mexico was a good idea and spent the next couple days close to his cabin.  I read McCullough's book on the canal before going - and finished on the cruise.  It is an extraordinary and elegant engineering achievement

[Firstin87]

We're on the 1/29 Dawn from Tampa, 11 days in the Caribbean.  Decided we're not going, but have not cancelled yet.  Cancelled all our excursions and the refunds were processed quickly.  Remember - if you pre-booked excursions and paid for them in advance, then if you cancel the trip that money will also be part of your FCC.  If you cancel the excursions on your own before cancelling the cruise, you get them refunded to your form of payment.

 

The sailing before ours was just cancelled today.  Fingers crossed our sailing gets cancelled next week.  Such a weird feeling to be hoping our 14 months planned for vacation gets cancelled.  These days, I'm surprised ships are still having 7+ day sailings as that increases the risk of COVID finding its way onboard.  

[vacruizer]

My other half just told me it feels like we are playing chicken with NCL. We are on the Joy 1/29 and don’t want to end up cancelled a few days out with no other options. Last night they cancelled the next two weeks with ours still showing sailing.  Our biggest issue right now is flying.  We can’t risk being stuck in Miami for days afterward if one of us turns up positive - our house and pet sitter can’t be here that long and I can’t delay returning to work. I just keep hoping that NCL will cancel so we can get a refund and book something else within a driveable distance that week - whether land or sea. 

I really don’t want to be stuck with an FCC I can’t use by December. 
 

[alpal1993]

Just did our on-line check-in for Getaway 2/2 .We are driving down to stay with family so won't  cancel on our own..

[kuku77254]

22 minutes ago, vacruizer said:

My other half just told me it feels like we are playing chicken with NCL. We are on the Joy 1/29 and don’t want to end up cancelled a few days out with no other options. Last night they cancelled the next two weeks with ours still showing sailing.  Our biggest issue right now is flying.  We can’t risk being stuck in Miami for days afterward if one of us turns up positive - our house and pet sitter can’t be here that long and I can’t delay returning to work. I just keep hoping that NCL will cancel so we can get a refund and book something else within a driveable distance that week - whether land or sea. 

I really don’t want to be stuck with an FCC I can’t use by December. 
 

If you can cancel now for cash and not FCC, I would do that and come up with a trip that has fewer what if's. I played chicken with them 2 years ago and lost. And for awhile, you can probably book something last minute for less. If you're having doubts, get out while you can!

[wampuscat7]

24 minutes ago, vacruizer said:

I really don’t want to be stuck with an FCC I can’t use by December. 
 

This is the issue for me. We could potentially swing a fall trip, but since we prefer Caribbean or Mexican Riviera, and those are limited in the fall. 

[firstimer2009]

9 hours ago, itsnotjustme said:

I played the waiting game and NCL won.  Today I am cancelling my 16 Jan Epic sailing for an FCC.  When the new batch of cancellations came out yesterday and my ship was not on it, it was game over for me.

 

Airline credits, hotel point credits (I bought the points as a cheaper alternative to the sky-high San Juan hotel rates), trip insurance credit, and NCL credit.  Over $10K tied up in credits.  Hope no one goes bankrupt on me.

I mentioned this is another post, but I was going to book Pride of America for my 25th anniversary.  The rates were $10k/person for a balcony.  No way I was going to be out $20k just on a cabin and I was too worried about FCC going forward. 

 

So we booked a land trip to Honolulu instead for Feb 27.  But now I'm holding my breathe on that too.  The Hawaii government could shut that island down without much notice.  I don't think they would, but they could.

[vacruizer]

16 minutes ago, kuku77254 said:

If you can cancel now for cash and not FCC, I would do that and come up with a trip that has fewer what if's. I played chicken with them 2 years ago and lost. And for awhile, you can probably book something last minute for less. If you're having doubts, get out while you can!

No cash option.  I’m paid in full and sail 1/29 so only ways out are for them to cancel and refund me or I cancel and take the FCC. Or test positive and file an insurance claim. 
 

 

[SireDoime]

10 hours ago, nhtravels said:

The cruise before us is the Bliss from LA to MIA, so that we can do MIA to LA.   If they can't make the journey, NCL will have to cancel ours.

I'm on this sailing. Everytime I see a new announcement, I wait to see if Bliss is on the list.

With 10 days to go, I can wait or sail; I can cancel excursions while onboard since it'll be 48 hours before we arrive at the first port. If the deny us, I'll be refunded anyway, as I was when Nicaragua was cut.

 

Whatever they do, I hope it isn't a credit that HAS to be used by the end of 2022. I would hope to get all my cash back.

[BirdTravels]

13 hours ago, jlseymour3 said:

We have a cruise in early February on the Getaway.  My parents are leaning towards canceling, which would mean we would too.  If we cancel before 1/31, we get an FCC, but if Norwegian cancels, we likely get a full refund.  Much, much betterer.  Norwegian seems to be waiting until the day or two before the next canceled cruise, then cancels a bunch over a week or two at one time.  So . . . it is certainly possible they would cancel our 2/2 cruise on 2/1.  Especially if they don't extend the 1/31/22 deadline for getting a full FCC for cancelation.  So, the smart play is to wait until the last minute to cancel (if that's the decision), but I'm thinking the phone lines might be absolutely jammed on 1/31 and maybe even 1/30 with people canceling winter and spring cruises before the deadline.

 

So, how would you play this?  How long would you wait until pulling the plug, if you were going to cancel? 

If it is bothering so much to make this post, then cancel all. 

 

Otherwise join the 10's and 10's of thousands of others who sail each week without incident. Enjoy your cruise. You'll have a great time. 

 

You come to Cruise Critic and you get a very slated view of the world where 90% of the passengers are testing positive and being locked up in tiny interior rooms and fed bread and water. The complete opposite is the case. Could NCL cancel your cruise, yes. Will NCL cancel your cruise, probably not. 

[ECCruise]

1 minute ago, BirdTravels said:

If it is bothering so much to make this post, then cancel all. 

 

Otherwise join the 10's and 10's of thousands of others who sail each week without incident. Enjoy your cruise. You'll have a great time. 

 

You come to Cruise Critic and you get a very slated view of the world where 90% of the passengers are testing positive and being locked up in tiny interior rooms and fed bread and water. The complete opposite is the case. Could NCL cancel your cruise, yes. Will NCL cancel your cruise, probably not. 

But there is the bigger picture that must be considered.

 

Entertainment cut down to almost nothing.  Specialty restaurants closed.  Service impacted due to crew being in quarantine.

 

For us, all that impacts a cruise.

 

And nowhere does anyone insinuate that "90% of the passengers are testing positive and locked in tiny interior rooms and fed bread and water."  Yes, there have been some reports of pax testing positive, and some in quarantine (although I've read some great reports of quarantine on Celebrity, e.g.)

 

Your analysis is far more skewed than anything on here.

[BirdTravels]

1 minute ago, ECCruise said:

But there is the bigger picture that must be considered.

 

Entertainment cut down to almost nothing.  Specialty restaurants closed.  Service impacted due to crew being in quarantine.

 

For us, all that impacts a cruise.

 

And nowhere does anyone insinuate that "90% of the passengers are testing positive and locked in tiny interior rooms and fed bread and water."  Yes, there have been some reports of pax testing positive, and some in quarantine (although I've read some great reports of quarantine on Celebrity, e.g.)

 

Your analysis is far more skewed than anything on here.

I read most of the posts here. And most threads are exaggerated about dire situations on ships. They lead you to believe that exertainment is cut to nothing, restaurants are closed, and there is no service because of the crew being quarantined. It's amazing that some people actually believe it and repost it as fact. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

9 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

I read most of the posts here. And most threads are exaggerated about dire situations on ships. They lead you to believe that exertainment is cut to nothing, restaurants are closed, and there is no service because of the crew being quarantined. It's amazing that some people actually believe it and repost it as fact. 

Aren’t you the person who said that people were locked in their rooms if they caught Covid?

[ECCruise]

27 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

I read most of the posts here. And most threads are exaggerated about dire situations on ships. They lead you to believe that exertainment is cut to nothing, restaurants are closed, and there is no service because of the crew being quarantined. It's amazing that some people actually believe it and repost it as fact. 

They have a long way to go to even approach your level of exaggeration of their assessments. 

Many of which are actually ON ships.