More Princess cancellations/reschedules imminent? Coral and Majestic

[joejoe 59]

6 hours ago, NSWP said:

All the above should  be forced to disclose Mic.

I don't think the government cares anymore,  covid is everywhere now.

As of next week the vaccination mandates end in Queensland. 

[arxcards]

The majority of Coral's cruises have now been reinstated for booking, with the exception of the recently split itineraries. Only fair that those that were booked on the longer cruises have first dibs at moving over to the replacement cruises.

[NSWP]

10 hours ago, joejoe 59 said:

I don't think the government cares anymore,  covid is everywhere now.

As of next week the vaccination mandates end in Queensland. 

I think the Federal and State Governments have chucked the towel in re Covid, like UK, USA, etc. Few mandates, if any.   Really all those border closures did nothing in my opinion, well except to send most of the tourism industry broke.

Edited June 24, 2022 by NSWP

[MicCanberra]

I think the statistics will show that many deaths were avoided when compared to other countries.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

I think the Federal and State Governments have chucked the towel in re Covid, like UK, USA, etc. Few mandates, if any.   Really all those border closures did nothing in my opinion, well except to send most of the tourism industry broke.

The health authorities said we would have to live with COVID. I feel that the border closures resulted in a much lower number of infections in the early stage and a much lower number of deaths. While the restrictions were in place, vaccines were developed then distributed and COVID mutated into a less-deadly variant. If you look at the graph of infections/deaths in Australia compared with other countries, Australia has been doing better than nearly every other country in the world. That is why I don't agree with your comments. 🙂

[NSWP]

19 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The health authorities said we would have to live with COVID. I feel that the border closures resulted in a much lower number of infections in the early stage and a much lower number of deaths. While the restrictions were in place, vaccines were developed then distributed and COVID mutated into a less-deadly variant. If you look at the graph of infections/deaths in Australia compared with other countries, Australia has been doing better than nearly every other country in the world. That is why I don't agree with your comments. 🙂

With all due respect, we often disagree, lol.

[aussielozzie18]

18 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I feel that the end of November is a bit late in the  year to go to New Guinea.

Did the 14 Day FNQ & PNG cruise with Holland in December.  Whilst we did have a potential cyclone form off the coast, we ended up with glorious weather for the entire cruise.

Like the August cruise that unfortunately has been split into 3, I doubt this Nov cruise will be visiting PNG.

[MMDown Under]

3 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Did the 14 Day FNQ & PNG cruise with Holland in December.  Whilst we did have a potential cyclone form off the coast, we ended up with glorious weather for the entire cruise.

Like the August cruise that unfortunately has been split into 3, I doubt this Nov cruise will be visiting PNG.

You can be lucky with the weather.  I did a cruise from Cairns to Darwin in Feb/March this year during the cyclone season and had perfect sunny weather, with smooth seas.  Whilst down south in Eastern States the rain poured with local flooding!

[S&D]

13 hours ago, arxcards said:

There is no news Sandy. Shortening cruises or splitting them up into pieces is designed to keep it that way. Carnival Australia will know what infection numbers they had on Pacific Explorer over the 8 nights and see that a cruise of that length is a risk vs the protocols that have been set for them.

Thanks Geoff, sounds sensible, we are hoping to have a nice chilled cruise, we are all vaxxed..(4 shots), and flu, hoping to avoid the worst of it...cheers...

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, NSWP said:

I think the Federal and State Governments have chucked the towel in re Covid, like UK, USA, etc. Few mandates, if any.   Really all those border closures did nothing in my opinion, well except to send most of the tourism industry broke.

I don't think they chucked in the towel. Lockdowns, border closures, banned cruise ships were all about protecting the hospitals from collapsing from overload, and every individual until they had the opportunity to be vaccinated.

 

I get that there are still people that are vulnerable to the risks of covid, including some of my family, but just as vulnerable to the flu.

[Ondine]

On 6/23/2022 at 7:01 PM, arxcards said:

I think they are close to full, or close enough till they are sure of their capacity requirements going forward. Very unusual for everything to sell out in all categories in such a short time. I was initially concerned they might be breaking up the itineraries to domestic -- but Grand Princess still has their New Zealand itineraries ex-Melbourne as available from the start of November.

 

One other possibility is that with lack of demand for Grand Princess, that they are holding any remaining cabins on the other ships to allow room on Coral & Majestic to swap passengers on to, should they cancel Grand Princess.

 

 

Not sure about the "lack of demand" for Grand Princess.  The NZ cruise for 4th Nov only has obstructed oceanview's and inside's available apart from the occasional suite.  Balconies have been thin on the ground for the past 3 months.  This cruise has had several move-overs from cancelled cruises applied to it.

The following cruise to Nth Queensland has been fully booked out and showing sold out for months.  It too has had multiple cancelled cruises moved to it.

 

I am on both.  The NZ one started out as a Sapphire Princess booking and has been moved several times.

The Nth Queensland trip started out as 23rd March 2020 (Golden Princess), then Nov 26th 2020, then March 23rd 2021 then Dec 2021 (Sapphire Princess) and now is Nov 17th 2022 (Grand Princess).  Passengers just rebooking or moving over.

 

We have very limited cruises from Melbourne this summer so they will fill the ships from down here I would think.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, Ondine said:

 

Not sure about the "lack of demand" for Grand Princess.  The NZ cruise for 4th Nov only has obstructed oceanview's and inside's available apart from the occasional suite.  Balconies have been thin on the ground for the past 3 months.  This cruise has had several move-overs from cancelled cruises applied to it.

The following cruise to Nth Queensland has been fully booked out and showing sold out for months.  It too has had multiple cancelled cruises moved to it.

 

I am on both.  The NZ one started out as a Sapphire Princess booking and has been moved several times.

The Nth Queensland trip started out as 23rd March 2020 (Golden Princess), then Nov 26th 2020, then March 23rd 2021 then Dec 2021 (Sapphire Princess) and now is Nov 17th 2022 (Grand Princess).  Passengers just rebooking or moving over.

 

We have very limited cruises from Melbourne this summer so they will fill the ships from down here I would think.

I just though it was unusual that they put a hold on both Coral & Majestic cruises, but the Grand Princess itineraries were all still listed. I had noticed there was a couple of Grand cruises sold out or close to it, but just guessing why they all didn't go on hold as well.

[Hammer61]

I was booked on the HK to Sydney Cruise that cancelled, got an email from travel agent to tell me a couple of weeks ago and that they would deduct a cancellation fee? Not happy about that one so called them up about it as I never saw anything about this and Princess had said deposits would be refunded in full, now have to wait 8 – 10 weeks for that to occur but it’s only in the form of credit with the said agent! They also failed to tell me that for those who got cancelled their was a 10% discount offer on any cruise up to 15 days through until the end of 2023, so im not sure about booking with them again, but means I lose the deposit already paid.

 

Just curious if this is common practice with agents to charge fees even if its not you cancelling especially on a cruise so far out, surely its not much more work than booking online at this stage???? Often just book direct as have been caught out with price drops and agents, you may pay a bit more direct but if prices go down its juts a phone call to get the new deal, not the with travel agents and the “Admin” fee or they say they have to cancel your original booking to re book which also has the fee.

 

Maybe just stick to booking direct in future.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Hammer61

[MMDown Under]

23 minutes ago, Hammer61 said:

I was booked on the HK to Sydney Cruise that cancelled, got an email from travel agent to tell me a couple of weeks ago and that they would deduct a cancellation fee? Not happy about that one so called them up about it as I never saw anything about this and Princess had said deposits would be refunded in full, now have to wait 8 – 10 weeks for that to occur but it’s only in the form of credit with the said agent! They also failed to tell me that for those who got cancelled their was a 10% discount offer on any cruise up to 15 days through until the end of 2023, so im not sure about booking with them again, but means I lose the deposit already paid.

 

Just curious if this is common practice with agents to charge fees even if its not you cancelling especially on a cruise so far out, surely its not much more work than booking online at this stage???? Often just book direct as have been caught out with price drops and agents, you may pay a bit more direct but if prices go down its juts a phone call to get the new deal, not the with travel agents and the “Admin” fee or they say they have to cancel your original booking to re book which also has the fee.

 

Maybe just stick to booking direct in future.

Surely if Princess cancelled the cruise HK to Sydney, you are entitled to full refund with no cancellation fee from TA?  Not a Cruise Credit!  

[windsor26]

47 minutes ago, Hammer61 said:

I was booked on the HK to Sydney Cruise that cancelled, got an email from travel agent to tell me a couple of weeks ago and that they would deduct a cancellation fee? Not happy about that one so called them up about it as I never saw anything about this and Princess had said deposits would be refunded in full, now have to wait 8 – 10 weeks for that to occur but it’s only in the form of credit with the said agent! They also failed to tell me that for those who got cancelled their was a 10% discount offer on any cruise up to 15 days through until the end of 2023, so im not sure about booking with them again, but means I lose the deposit already paid.

 

Just curious if this is common practice with agents to charge fees even if its not you cancelling especially on a cruise so far out, surely its not much more work than booking online at this stage???? Often just book direct as have been caught out with price drops and agents, you may pay a bit more direct but if prices go down its juts a phone call to get the new deal, not the with travel agents and the “Admin” fee or they say they have to cancel your original booking to re book which also has the fee.

 

Maybe just stick to booking direct in future.

I feel in this instance you shold be allowed to name the TA  who everyone could avoid  So the CC rule in this instance is a shame   My TA has given us everything the cruise company gave for their cancellations and they would never invoice us if WE did not cancel

[MicCanberra]

This is why it is wise to read cancellation policies for TAs as well as for cruise lines.A shame you are being stung for something not your fault. BTW, if you had paid the deposit by credit card, try a reclaim for service not delivered.

[arxcards]

11 minutes ago, windsor26 said:

I feel in this instance you shold be allowed to name the TA  who everyone could avoid  So the CC rule in this instance is a shame   My TA has given us everything the cruise company gave for their cancellations and they would never invoice us if WE did not cancel

I don't agree, as comments can't be validated. If you allowed a name & shame of an agency, the first to do it would be competing agents disguised as cruisers. In past days in another forum, we had two different agencies that wanted to drag us through court because of forum comments against them. Some of them can be pretty competitive.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Hammer61 said:

I was booked on the HK to Sydney Cruise that cancelled, got an email from travel agent to tell me a couple of weeks ago and that they would deduct a cancellation fee? Not happy about that one so called them up about it as I never saw anything about this and Princess had said deposits would be refunded in full, now have to wait 8 – 10 weeks for that to occur but it’s only in the form of credit with the said agent! They also failed to tell me that for those who got cancelled their was a 10% discount offer on any cruise up to 15 days through until the end of 2023, so im not sure about booking with them again, but means I lose the deposit already paid.

 

Just curious if this is common practice with agents to charge fees even if its not you cancelling especially on a cruise so far out, surely its not much more work than booking online at this stage???? Often just book direct as have been caught out with price drops and agents, you may pay a bit more direct but if prices go down its juts a phone call to get the new deal, not the with travel agents and the “Admin” fee or they say they have to cancel your original booking to re book which also has the fee.

 

Maybe just stick to booking direct in future.

You have a crap travel agent. I agree if the cancellations or changes are made by you, they have some right to take a booking fee. But that isn't the case.

 

We have juggled heaps of cancellations for over two years, and our T/A hasn't taken a cent from us. 

 

T&Cs matter. Maybe it is better to book direct till someone directs you to a great T/A.

Edited June 27, 2022 by arxcards

[Hammer61]

55 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Surely if Princess cancelled the cruise HK to Sydney, you are entitled to full refund with no cancellation fee from TA?  Not a Cruise Credit!  

When I complained they back tracked and said they made a mistake just be a 10-12 week wait for the deposit to come back from Princess, so not like I have lost it.

33 minutes ago, windsor26 said:

I feel in this instance you shold be allowed to name the TA  who everyone could avoid  So the CC rule in this instance is a shame   

No, not doing that, its true what has occured but i could also be anyone another agent even trying to discredit another.

 

12 minutes ago, arxcards said:

You have a crap travel agent. I agree if the cancellations or changes are made by you, they have some right to take a booking fee. But that isn't the case.

First time using them and if we had gone to cancel then i would have no problem with losing the deposit, that was quite clear, being non refundable, what wasnt clear was if Princess cancelled? 

 

At least we havnt lost the deposit , just need to book another cruise with them but it has left me a bit weary of agents in general now.

[MMDown Under]

33 minutes ago, Hammer61 said:

When I complained they back tracked and said they made a mistake just be a 10-12 week wait for the deposit to come back from Princess, so not like I have lost it.

No, not doing that, its true what has occured but i could also be anyone another agent even trying to discredit another.

 

First time using them and if we had gone to cancel then i would have no problem with losing the deposit, that was quite clear, being non refundable, what wasnt clear was if Princess cancelled? 

 

At least we havnt lost the deposit , just need to book another cruise with them but it has left me a bit weary of agents in general now.

But you shouldn't have to book another cruise with them.  You are entitled to a refund. 

[bazzaw]

13 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

This is why it is wise to read cancellation policies for TAs as well as for cruise lines.A shame you are being stung for something not your fault. BTW, if you had paid the deposit by credit card, try a reclaim for service not delivered.

I recall reading the fine print of a TA  - it had a description of the procedure they would follow if a cruise was "cancelled" by you - there is no mention of what happens if it is cancelled by the TA or the cruiseline. 

Edited June 27, 2022 by bazzaw

[bazzaw]

13 hours ago, Hammer61 said:

When I complained they back tracked and said they made a mistake just be a 10-12 week wait for the deposit to come back from Princess, so not like I have lost it.

No, not doing that, its true what has occured but i could also be anyone another agent even trying to discredit another.

 

First time using them and if we had gone to cancel then i would have no problem with losing the deposit, that was quite clear, being non refundable, what wasnt clear was if Princess cancelled? 

 

At least we havnt lost the deposit , just need to book another cruise with them but it has left me a bit weary of agents in general now.

I think this sounds very much like the 1st TA - I certainly wont be using them again. I do now wonder really what benefit there is using TA's for simple cruise bookings. I have noted that they do seem to have a "deeper" access into the cruise companies systems and can organise complicated things that can,t be done by myself online. 

[Jean C]

16 minutes ago, bazzaw said:

I think this sounds very much like the 1st TA - I certainly wont be using them again. I do now wonder really what benefit there is using TA's for simple cruise bookings. I have noted that they do seem to have a "deeper" access into the cruise companies systems and can organise complicated things that can,t be done by myself online. 

For the future, if you use a Princess Vacation Planner you will have no problems and will have a single contact person.  Like TAs, some are better than others. They will give you some additional OBC and say that should fares drop they will automatically apply lower fare to your booking, so best of both worlds 🙂

[Ondine]

8 hours ago, Jean C said:

For the future, if you use a Princess Vacation Planner you will have no problems and will have a single contact person.  Like TAs, some are better than others. They will give you some additional OBC and say that should fares drop they will automatically apply lower fare to your booking, so best of both worlds 🙂

 

After all the mess when cruises were first cancelled in 2020 I vowed never to use an agent again.  I had trouble getting my deposit back from one six months after Princess had given it to them.  I now use the Vacation Planner who is very good.  Nothing is any problem.  He even reduced my November booking cost  by $400 last Friday because there was a drop in prices for the last of the cabins.

 

Having said that I have used a different agent but only for my Virgin Resilient Lady bookings because I didn't want to have to ring Guatemala to organise a specific cabin.  Hopefully the agent I have chosen is ok if problems arise.  Otherwise DIY.

[Cbtours]

On 6/28/2022 at 8:18 AM, Jean C said:

For the future, if you use a Princess Vacation Planner you will have no problems and will have a single contact person.  Like TAs, some are better than others. They will give you some additional OBC and say that should fares drop they will automatically apply lower fare to your booking, so best of both worlds 🙂

This is our experience. Have always done bookings myself direct with cruise line however started using a PVP since returning to cruise post covid and couldn’t be happier! Including a saving of over $700 each applied when a better fare was advertised. Applied immediately to our booking.