Speculation on Sept. cruise
 

We have a 10 day Sept cruise from Quebec City to NYC on hold. Final pymt is due in late April. This is with NCL. If we make the final pymt before end of April we will still be able to cancel at any time up to 48 hrs before sailing and get a full credit for a future cruise. The covid-19 virus may continue into Sept, or longer, and the cruise could be canceled. I hate to have $5500 tied up for 5 months. I'm leaning towards canceling & getting my deposit back. That way I can probably book the cruise last minute if the covid-19 virus is no longer a threat. Heck, prices might even drop in July or August. Thoughts? Another issue is we booked pre & post award flts with DL that will be expensive to cancel.

Many of these Cruises will be discounted, to fill them up, not everyone is anxious to travel..

Personally, I would wait. I would not want the money tied up and "credit for a future cruise" (or a cash refund, though that is not what was promised) could become doubtful, if the cruise corporation becomes financially unstable as a result of coronavirus.

The real question here is "what is the viability of NCL when the storm passes".

The cruise industry is a multi-billion dollar market that has only been expanding over the past 2 decades and basically was running on all 8 cylinders prior to this event. So I would be comfortable saying that the industry as a whole will emerge albeit battered but functional and in several years, most will forget about the calamity that is currently befalling it.

With that being said, I can't say how or if individual companies will survive. So my suggestion is....play this as if you were going to buy stock in NCL. Would you be willing to put the amount they want for your trip into their stock today for sale in September or some time in the future?

If the answer is no, then why chase good money after bad?
That should be your answer.;)

And
 

I know this was not the original concern of the OP, but if it were the main concern of anyone planning such a booking, I would suggest purchasing third party travel insurance after assuring that it covers travel supplier bankruptcy or cessation of operations.

Thanks for all the thoughtful answers, They will make my decision easier. :)

The answer might be within the credit card you choose for payment. I certainly would not do the outside insurance route. And I would not rush to book with NCL. They are the least financially capable of the three major companies.

Have not seen a card yet that covers epidemics, pandemics or insolvency. Here's a link to the Chase SR guide: https://www.chasebenefits.com/sapphirereserve2

We will be canceling. Thx for the input.

Good call. I would definitely cancel any cruise for the foreseeable future. Once the pandemic eases is under control and things calm down, you'll have plenty of opportunities to rebook. Once cruises resume operations, people will be reluctant to go on a cruise for a while given the nightmares cruise passengers have endured in the past month.

I just cancelled our December Antarctica cruise. No way we would want to be so far away from civilization when, as I suspect, this COVID-19 pandemic is still raging. I also did not want to trust that the cruiselines all declare bankruptcy and the insurance companies and credit card issuers rely on force majure language.

We can always rebook if things turn around.

Good luck and good health to all...

I would cancel it and get your money back now. FCC may not be worth much when everyone has to use them up by certain time. By next year, all the prices will be artificially raised up because people need to use up their FCC.

Hopefully this is a financial "big bath"-type event and surviving cruisecos can/will reset their earnings expectations and be less grasping and try not to shake every penny from customers to grow earnings. Somehow, I don't think so.

I would not let NCL hold your money. They have no commitment to their customers. Worst customer service I have ever experienced.

I don’t trust NCL at all. I’ve been on over 80 cruises on several different cruise lines... and my worst customer service and cruise experience was also on Norwegian. When I say worst, I mean on a scale of 1 to 10...with 1 being the worst... the 2nd worst would be like a 7 and NCL would be a -100000000000000. That’s why I only been on one NCL cruise and never again. Hope you got your running shoes, because they’re good at giving you the run around.

That's probably why they offer so many freebies with their cruises. To entice the innocent. :(

We received a full refund of our deposit w/in 2 weeks of cancelling.