Hoyaheel

Many river cruise companies have also announced changes in their cancellation policies. I've just been recommending to friends who aren't obsessed with places like FT to go to websites and read the fine print of whatever they have posted to see what applies to their specific scenarios...

FlyerEC

QUOTE=747FC;32148634]Silversea just reported instituting a shorter cancellation window:

https://www.silversea.com/temporary-...&mid=129621158[/QUOTE]


Well , Oceania sure is slow and unsympathetic with regards to amending cancellation policies .

Oceania has a change of heart

“ Oceania Club Member | New No-Penalty Programme “

pseudoswede

Princess is now bribing passengers not to cancel by offering an extra $200/cabin OBC for cruises longer than 6 nights (less OBC for shorter cruises).

747FC

It looks like either SIlversea and Royal Caribbean have announced different policies, or their wording is confusing. "The "Cruise With Confidence" policy allows guests on Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara and Silversea to cancel up to 48 hours before a sailing."

Silversea's announcement was a 1-month window. Either they changed that to 48 hours corporate-wide, or "up to 48 hours" is only for some lines in the group.

justforfun

Same with Cunard!

jmastron

Honestly, I think it's time for concerned passengers to play hardball. Book a refundable flight to Beijing (available on Air China through United at least) returning a few days before your cruise, then call up the cruise line and point to their own website's info and state "We will not be eligible to board; please process a refund". At least one of the lines' sites clearly states that they will refund passengers denied boarding, the others don't but they of course must.

Then, (probably) have a change of heart and decide not to take the China trip...

This is a materially different situation, with far different risks, than anything foreseeable when originally booked. The cruise lines simply have no way to guarantee a safe cruise or that their ships won't be quarantined for weeks. The only way to do that would be to quarantine every passenger *before* the cruise for 14 days followed by a negative test before boarding, and of course they aren't willing to do that! It's entirely reasonable for passengers to cancel for a refund in this instance.

Need

The 48 hours does not refund cash... just cruise credit for any future cruise in 2020 or 2021. Silversea's 30 days refund is cash. After that, it is also cruise credit until 48 hours before cruise. I don't know if other cruise line would also have the 30 days cash refund. I have not find the policy on Celebrity website yet... just in the main Royal Caribbean Corp announcement.
https://presscenter.rclcorporate.com...DaFyJruGmKqbwM

obscure2k

My son has a 4 day Carnival Cruise booked for August, from Long Beach. He has concerns due to some chronic health issues. He called Carnival and asked about cancellation and they told him he could cancel but would charge $100 cancellation fee. He decided to wait until July to see if things settle down.

Happy

Princess sent out email 2:39am this morning on revised cancellation policy

March 5, 2020
We continue to implement increased monitoring, screening and sanitation protocols to protect the health of our guests, crew and the residents of the destinations we serve. Our measures are designed to be flexible to adapt to changing conditions and recommended best practices. For your reference, you can read our Guest Travel Advisory.Nevertheless, we know you have questions about your upcoming cruise. Princess would like to share some policy updates that provide options and flexibility should you want to reschedule your currently booked vacation that sails between now and May 31, 2020.

• Sailings departing between March 9 and April 3*: booked guests can cancel up to 3 days prior to departure, receive a Future Cruise Credit for 100% of the cancellation fee amount, and move your booking to any voyage that departs by December 31, 2021.

• Sailings departing between April 4 and May 31*: booked guests can cancel by March 31, 2020, receive a Future Cruise Credit for 100% of the cancellation fee amount, and move your booking to any voyage that departs by December 31, 2021.

*Date of departure is from the start date of your cruise or cruisetour, whichever is earlier.

If you choose to keep your booking as currently scheduled for departures between March 9 and May 31, you will receive the following Onboard Credit amounts:

• $100 USD/ $150 AUD per cabin for 3 and 4 day cruises
• $150 USD / $225 AUD per cabin for 5 day cruises
• $200 USD / $300 AUD per cabin for 6 day and longer cruises

For our guests booked on Crown Princess Mediterranean itineraries, we are finalizing some itinerary changes and a special offer that we will be sharing early next week.

Please note that Future Cruise Credits will automatically be applied to each guest's Captain's Circle account after they have cancelled. The Future Cruise Credit will not be available instantly and may take up to 10 business days to be processed. Guests with Princess Vacation Protection should file a claim via www.aontravelclaim.com in the first instance.We appreciate your loyalty and look forward to welcoming you onboard.

Sincerely,
Jan Swartz

We will hold off until March 30 to cancel if we so wish, because this would be easier to get 100% cancellation fee as FCC instead of 75% (cancel between 42 and 15 days) with the 25% going back to UR - more cumbersome to get it sorted out due to we used UR pts for this Sky Princess Apr 11 sailing to St. Petersburg. We already have to do a Deviation Request to change our disembarkation to a day early at Tallinn back in Feb when Russia temporarily suspends the Visa Free entry we rely on. Now with situation in Europe is getting worse by the hour, and our original plan to spend time at Lombadi post cruise went down the drain, we might just cancel the whole thing, and eat the intra EU flight costs / redeposit fee of our Aeroplan award tickets on returning back to US.

Regarding the "bribing" of OBC - I do not agree with that term - because everyone's sailing up to May 31st can cancel without any penalty either 72 hours before cruise (up to Apr 3rd) or by March 31st, without losing anything.

They have realized their oversight not to incl the sailings this weekend that do not qualify for free cancellation, but should have received the OBC - the mistake is quickly corrected.

They obviously will give Crown's sailings in the Med much more accommodations / incentives as probably many ports will not be feasible.

RCL has an even more generous cancellation policy, for sailings up to July 31st, you can cancel for free up to 48 hours before sailing.
On top of that RCL said they would do body temperature checking at embarkation. If you are denied boarding, you will get 100% refund. Or if you have cough / sneeze symptoms please call the company ahead of your sailing to make arrangement.

Happy

Then you are also facing quarantine when you enter US or EU before you attempt to board the cruise - IF you do not get infected during your time in China or enroute to / from... that is. Pretty dumb idea to play "hard ball" when most cruise lines are quite accommodating at this point.

mysterym

huh? the suggestion doesnt mention actually taking the flight... simply booking, using as evidence to get cancellation/refund from cruise line, and then canceling the refundable airline ticket

747FC

A bit OT, but I sold CCL today for a substantial loss. I’ll reinvest in securities that I believe will have a brighter long-term future.

jmastron

I agree; I wasn't suggesting to actually travel to China (that's why I said refundable), just to have some evidence of plans that would warrant a refund under their current policies (one of the lines' statements stated that if you have been or will be in one of those places to call them immediately to process the refund). Personally, I think cruising anywhere right now is incredibly irresponsible and that the cruise lines should do an orderly temporary shutdown. But at the very least they should allow refunds without much hassle. The "future credit" policies sort of address that, but maybe not for all.

travelinmanS

This is a good point. I’m in China now, I entered using e channel. If I exit and travel to Korea there will be no record stamped in my passport. I could then exit Korea and fly to Japan and use my japan frequent traveler card to avoid the Japan stamp then fly to the USA and use global entry to enter. China to Korea to Japan to the USA all with no stamps. Using passport stamps to track travel is an outdated idea. But since the virus is everywhere there’s really no sense in discriminating against certain countries or regions. Either decide to take the risk or cancel all cruises for 3 months.

747FC

You may not have a stamp in your passport, and you may use GE, but do know that CPB will know you have been to Japan, and maybe beyond that.