My conundrum for my upcoming Mardi Gras cruise

[soremekun]

My flight home from my cruise on Southwest was canceled on February 16.  I only found out today by calling customer service.  I checked the app because I was going to purchase transfers for the April cruise and wanted to confirm the flight time.  Southwest does not have anymore flights the day of disembarkation nor the day after.  Prices on the other airlines are waaaaay too expensive.  Greyhound is cheap but the travel time is too long.  Amtrak is also a long trip.

 

This cruise is on Mardi Gras from a canceled Vista cruise due to the shutdown.  

 

I'm waiting on a reply from my TA.  I'm hoping this cruise can be moved without penalty to April 2023 and the cruise I already have in that slot can be canceled and the funds turned into a FCC.  I don't want to lose the $600 OBC I have for this cruise.  I don't care if I don't cruise next month as I have several other cruises booked.

Edited March 14, 2022 by soremekun

[firefly333]

Call your pvp as no one here can tell you what she can or will do. Cruiselines are a lot less willing to cancel and move cruise just because someone wants to not go. Covid reasons are drying up. Expensive flights arent a good reason to be allowed to cancel with no penalty.. call. Find out what she can do. 

 

We are moving back into the penalty periods and normal. I noticed my deposit is marked nonrefundable on the new dream booking I made. $400 lost if I cancel. Odd amount, but says nonrefundable even now. Before final. What are your cancel terms?

[cruisinqt]

Carnival is usually pretty strict about canceling a cruise. It used to only be allowed if you’re hospitalized or there’s a death in the family. And you have to have proof too. But with covid they’ve been easily accepting cancellations if you have covid like symptoms or fail the covid test. But other than those reasons it’s unlikely that they’ll allow a cancellation or transfer. 
 

Have you tried calling Southwest to see if they could find you an alternative flight from another airline at a reduced price since this is all their fault? I’ve had flights canceled before and they’ve been pretty good about helping me get a great deal with someone else. It’s worth a try. Good luck. 

[kwokpot]

2 hours ago, soremekun said:

My flight home from my cruise on Southwest was canceled on February 16.  I only found out today by calling customer service.  I checked the app because I was going to purchase transfers for the April cruise and wanted to confirm the flight time.  Southwest does not have anymore flights the day of disembarkation nor the day after.  Prices on the other airlines are waaaaay too expensive.  Greyhound is cheap but the travel time is too long.  Amtrak is also a long trip.

 

This cruise is on Mardi Gras from a canceled Vista cruise due to the shutdown.  

 

I'm waiting on a reply from my TA.  I'm hoping this cruise can be moved without penalty to April 2023 and the cruise I already have in that slot can be canceled and the funds turned into a FCC.  I don't want to lose the $600 OBC I have for this cruise.  I don't care if I don't cruise next month as I have several other cruises booked.

I'm sorry you're in this situation. I'm on the MG B2B April16-30. The airfares from the east coast are ridiculous. I see you're from BOS. Yeah, I did some fare checking and the fares are all WAY over $1,000 RT! That's insane.

We actually booked the 2nd cruise so the airfares were less money flying out on the 30th than the 23rd. We still are flying from NYC to JAX, renting a car, and driving down to Port Canaveral the day before embarkation. I was able to get a decent fare from MCO to NYC on April 30th., so we're renting a car and driving to MCO.

 

[Illbcruzn4life]

1 hour ago, cruisinqt said:

Carnival is usually pretty strict about canceling a cruise. It used to only be allowed if you’re hospitalized or there’s a death in the family. And you have to have proof too. But with covid they’ve been easily accepting cancellations if you have covid like symptoms or fail the covid test. But other than those reasons it’s unlikely that they’ll allow a cancellation or transfer. 
 

Have you tried calling Southwest to see if they could find you an alternative flight from another airline at a reduced price since this is all their fault? I’ve had flights canceled before and they’ve been pretty good about helping me get a great deal with someone else. It’s worth a try. Good luck. 

Southwest probably won't try to find him another flight on a different airlines since they don't codeshare

[Virga]

Obviously, best case scenario is Carnival taking pity on you, and letting you transfer your cash and credits to another cruise scot free.  Alternatively, can you buy their vacation protection this late in the game, and would that preserve your cash and credits?

 

If you're really stuck, though...   When you say Southwest doesn't have any flights that day or the next, do you mean they are all sold out, or that there just aren't any flights showing on the website at all?  Since THEY cancelled on you, they should be willing to let you book something they wouldn't usually allow.  Orlando has multiple flights to all their mock hubs every day, you should be able to get on one of those to get yourself closer to home, where unless they've literally stopped service to your home airport, there should be at least one flight home the next day.  If you're comfortable sharing your home airport, I'd be happy to take a quick peek.  

 

 

Edit: oh, yeah, Southwest absolutely won't interline you.  They'll let you do any number of crazy things on their network to recover from their failure, but they won't pay for you to fly on another airline.  Waste of breath even asking.

 

Edit 2: assuming you're still in Boston, Southwest should be able to put you on a flight to Chicago (MDW) on Saturday, and then home on Sunday.  It'll suck, you'll have to weigh it against what Carnival offers.  I'd normally suggest you go through Baltimore (BWI) but they're all showing sold out right now.  You can absolutely keep checking and see if something less crazy becomes available by then.  Looks to me like you're looking at April 23rd?  No idea what's going on, but there's definitely a way for Southwest to cobble you a way home that weekend if you're otherwise screwed.  

Edited March 14, 2022 by Virga

[csm5986142]

I can totally relate - we are sailing on Mardi Gras in April and I'm still in complete disbelief at the prices of the flights (and like you said, many on Southwest are completely sold out unless we wanted to stay in FL a couple extra days).

What we finally decided to do is fly halfway home day of debarkation, stay the night and fly the remainder the next day.  We are flying across the Country, and it will save us over $1000 doing it that way (even factoring in the airport hotel).

I would definitely call your PVP (it never hurts to ask) but if nothing else, maybe you can get creative with your flight(s).

[emm126]

Who issued your tickets? Your TA? if so they are responsible and should have told you a month ago. If you booked thru Southwest, they should have told you a month ago and protected you on another flight (if they had one)  Even if they didn't have a flight to protect you on, they should have told you a month ago and maybe the new flight wouldn't be so expensive. So I would either go back to your TA or Southwest, whoever issued your ticket and neglected to tell you. Best of Luck!

[firefly333]

9 hours ago, soremekun said:

My flight home from my cruise on Southwest was canceled on February 16.  I only found out today by calling customer service.  I checked the app because I was going to purchase transfers for the April cruise and wanted to confirm the flight time.  Southwest does not have anymore flights the day of disembarkation nor the day after.  Prices on the other airlines are waaaaay too expensive.  Greyhound is cheap but the travel time is too long.  Amtrak is also a long trip.

 

This cruise is on Mardi Gras from a canceled Vista cruise due to the shutdown.  

 

I'm waiting on a reply from my TA.  I'm hoping this cruise can be moved without penalty to April 2023 and the cruise I already have in that slot can be canceled and the funds turned into a FCC.  I don't want to lose the $600 OBC I have for this cruise.  I don't care if I don't cruise next month as I have several other cruises booked.

So what did your ta say?

[soremekun]

3 hours ago, firefly333 said:

So what did your ta say?

She said she's going to try to move it to Feb 2024.  I'll be sure to post back here when I hear back.

[soremekun]

4 hours ago, emm126 said:

Who issued your tickets? Your TA? if so they are responsible and should have told you a month ago. If you booked thru Southwest, they should have told you a month ago and protected you on another flight (if they had one)  Even if they didn't have a flight to protect you on, they should have told you a month ago and maybe the new flight wouldn't be so expensive. So I would either go back to your TA or Southwest, whoever issued your ticket and neglected to tell you. Best of Luck!

I got the flight directly through Southwest.  All they could do was offer an apology because no other suitable flights were available.  I am entitled to a refund of the money that was paid.  However, the travel funds I used must be used by September 2022 or they will expire.  They said I could wait to see if anything opens up.  I selected that option for now just so I could have time to figure out what to do.

[soremekun]

4 hours ago, firefly333 said:

So what did your ta say?

I should have checked my email before I posted.  The cruise has been moved without penalty nor any change in price.  Today, I will call Southwest and get a refund and will be issued some flight credits.  Since they never informed me of the cancellation and left me hanging, I will push for an extension of the expiration of the flight credits.

[soremekun]

The deed is done.

Cruise moved to February 2024 and flights cancelled.  There are flight credits I am going to lose but it is what it is.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

3 hours ago, soremekun said:

There are flight credits I am going to lose but it is what it is.

I recently learned a valuable piece of info regarding expired SWA travel credits. Once your travel credit expires, you can call SWA and ask for the travel credits to be extended by the issuance of LUV Vouchers. They will deduct $100 per person as a fee, but they will extend the life of your expired credits by 6 months. You have 6 months from the expiration date to request this, and the 6-month extension begins when you request it, so plan the timing carefully.

 

We had flight credits from 2020 expire this month, and I was able to call and get the LUV vouchers and recoup all but $200 of the fares. Another interesting thing about LUV vouchers is that they can be transferred and used by anyone, whereas the travel credits could only be used by the original ticket-holder. So that's a nice benefit.

Edited March 15, 2022 by TravelGirlinDallas

[soremekun]

5 minutes ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

I recently learned a valuable piece of advice regarding expired SWA travel credits. Once your travel credit expires, you can call SWA and ask for the travel credits to be extended by the issuance of LUV Vouchers. They will deduct $100 per person as a fee, but they will extend the life of your expired credits by 6 months. You have 6 months from the expiration date to request this, and the 6-month extension begins when you request it, so plan the timing carefully.

 

We had flight credits from 2020 expire this month, and I was able to call and get the LUV vouchers and recoup all but $200 of the fares. Another interesting thing about LUV vouchers is that they can be transferred and used by anyone, whereas the travel credits could only be used by the original ticket-holder. So that's a nice benefit.

Good info.  My southwest flight credits are $390 for two people.  $190 is better than no credits/vouchers.  I hope to be able to apply it to my April 2023 flights.

[medianeh]

Same exact thing happened to me. I booked southwest flights in October for our April MG cruise. At first, southwest canceled our outgoing flight and never notified me. It was only discovered by me because as luck would have it, my sister and brother in law decided to come in the cruise with us and I was looking at flights (and didn’t see mine listed). Checked my app, and sure enough - it was canceled without putting us (there are 4 of us) on another flight. I called Southwest and got on a different flight luckily (although first flight was from buf to mco non-stop), and now it was a 4 hour layover in Chicago. Ugh. 
 

Two days later, they did the exact same thing to me on my return flight. Canceled and did not let me know. Of course, now I was checking my app constantly anyway, so I knew - okay because I checked. By now with all the changes, and because it was spring break, there were no return flights until the next day (and luckily at that). 

 

I bet I called Southwest no less than 5 times (and held for two hours each time) and sent nasty emails. They ended up providing me with  4 $300 LUV vouchers as compensation for my aggravation. 
 

it’s worth it to call them (and email) and voice your frustration. 
 

 

 

[TrinaLC]

Glad for your "happy ending"!

[csm5986142]

Glad to hear everything worked out/you were able to move your cruise.  We have always traveled in April, but this year is crazy (I will not book in April next year).  I think everybody is making up for lost spring break trips.  Not only is airfare crazy, but most hotels are sold out as well.  Prices are astronomical.  I expect the ships to be completely full as well.