Balsam12

23 hours ago, Kiwi_cruiser said:

I think You may find Star Princess is just at this stage going in for "maintenance " and inspection to make sure everything is working ok 🙂

Hmmm... Encounter is scheduled to commence sailing from Brisbane in early May. The reconfiguration from Star  Princess is supposed to take about a month. Allow another two weeks for getting crew aboard and sailing to Australia, and she needs to com out of the reconfiguration by mid march at the latest, and that's not taking in to consideration any quarantine period for the crew.

Do you really think they will dry dock the ship twice in the space of six weeks, or will they just do everything in the one dry dock?

Tracked Star Princess tonight, moving into what appears to be drydock in Singapore.

View from the Bridge cam and the location. 

Hopefully we will see Pacific Encounter in a few weeks...

3 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

I know some airlines when you pay for a flights charge fees regardless of credit or debit card (Qantas being my most recent experience) so it wouldn't surprise me there might be cruise lines who would charge fees just because it is a card transaction. The fact the credit card transaction came with a fee makes me suspect the debit card would have also had a fee but I haven't talked with their TA so who knows😜. I just wanted to point out it is not always guaranteed that debit card payments are sans fee. 

This TA charges a transaction fee regardless of debit or credit. If it is Mastercard or Visa, they slug you. 

The cut off for chargebacks is 180 days, so yes, too late for us anyway.

4 minutes ago, Porky55 said:

Forget the $2.
Contact P&O Aus direct by phone and talk to a Travel Planner. If you can’t get the exact cabin you want, you can take a Guarantee cabin perhaps, which will be closer to the one you want.

Rarely is a cruise totally sold out of all of a particular category, they just have them spread out with Travel Agencies, etc; until closer to cruise date; when all unsold blocks of available cabins return to Cruise Line.  

 

No harm in ringing P&O direct and asking what they have available for your cruise, without mentioning your other booking 🤔

You just might be surprised. #132 494 or 02 8326 4116

As you say, no harm in trying... stay tuned 🙂 

16 hours ago, icat2000 said:

 

 

Also instruct your agent to have your refund in your account by cob of whatever date otherwise you be asking your credit card company to refund you the total amount. 

 

 

Unfortunately, we paid by direct bank transfer, as they charge a fee for Credit card transactions.

2 hours ago, icat2000 said:

 

Just book another cabin directly with the cruiseline. And let the other booking lapse. 

I would do exactly that, however the only cabins available now are inside ones.

14 minutes ago, rkmw said:

Your choice but if the agent won’t release the booking and you pay the next instalment of $800 you are really committed to the agent 

Yep, we understand that, and therefore have two weeks to decide if we want to risk our $800...

Just now, rkmw said:

I thought it might be rather hard to get the TA to release the booking if they didn’t want to....might be easier to let the $2 go and book another cruise and book direct with the cruise line

We have definitely considered this, however should it go ahead, we really like the itinerary for this cruise.

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Earlier in this thread I commented that it is easy to switch a booking from a TA to the cruise line. It isn't that the cruiseline takes the booking away, the passenger chooses to switch. I have read many times on this forum that people switch their booking either from a TA to the cruise company, or vice versa.

Unfortunately, this is not proving to be correct, at least not wit P & O Australia.

They simply refuse to discuss anything about the booking with me other than if I want to make pre cruise purchases.

23 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I think someone here advise you it’s easy to have the booking taken off the agent.

To my knowledge the agent owns the booking not you ,and it’s very rare for the cruise line to take the booking away.

 

What cruise line ? 

In this case, P & O Australia.

The booking was made on their $1 deposit offer, and as we booked as soon as the cruise was announced, we got priority boarding (if such a thing will exist when cruising resumes), OBC and some included internet. Our next payment due on 1 Feb is only a further $800, so not a huge thing. I would just rebook and forget the $2.00, but balcony cabins on the cruise are sold out.

Final payment isn't then due until August, so hopefully the other booking will be sorted by then... maybe.

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

 

2. It is easy to move a booking from a TA to the cruise line. Contact the cruiseline who will outline their procedure for this.

 

OK, I'll try emailing the cruise line to see what they say.

Cheers

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

I reckon the TA is hanging on to the refund to pay rent and wages.  One reason why I book direct with cruise line.

 

Good luck with it all Balsam. Did you use a W.A. TA? That would have some bearing on whether WA Consumer Protection can retrieve your money.  But if the TA you used is based interstate, might be a different kettle of fish.

Unfortunately, no. The TA is based in NSW.

I'll see what the WA people come back with and then see if I need to contact the NSW equivalent.

The other two future bookings we have are now direct with the cruise line. We haven't used TAs for many years, however this did a great deal on our first cruise in 2019, so we booked the next couple with them as well. Never again.

Cheers

Just wondering if anyone has had any success getting information from cruise lines when booked through a travel agent?

Alternatively, has any removed a booking from a travel agent?

My scenario...

We had a booking for March 2020 which was cancelled. We took FCC and then booked another cruise for Xmas/New Year 2020 and applied the FCC to that. This cruise was then cancelled mid September 2020. The Travel agent emailed us and asked if we wanted FCC or a refund we elected to take a refund, as we have another cruise booked for October 2021, but with a different cruise line.

The Travel Agent emailed back confirming our request for a refund and the amount of the refund, and advising it could take up to 90 days. We accepted this as being "normal" at the current time.

Fast forward to the new year, and at 110 days, we had not received our refund, so I emailed the travel agent. They replied saying our refund had come in over the Xmas break, and would be processed in coming days. All good until I asked them HOW the refund would be processed. This raised two concerns. Firstly they were going to refund to my Debit Mastercard, which has long since expired and been replaced by a new card with a different number. Secondly, they said it would appear on my statement as "Refund - agent name - $400.00". This is only the extra cash deposit we made for the cruise, and not the full amount we are owed. They also tell me they legally have to refund to the card used for payment, and that when it bounces back, they will contact me to make alternative arrangements.

I then contacted them again for an explanation, and was told that the cruise line had issued FCC instead of a refund for the balance of what we have paid, and that it will now take a further 60 days to get a refund. I questioned why we have not had any communication from either the agent or the cruise line advising us of this FCC, seeing that the previous time we were emailed by both to let us know about FCC? They had no explanation.

The cruise line refuses to discuss the matter with me under any circumstances, so I now have no idea if the agent is telling me the truth. I have a definite concern that they have received our refund and are using our money to help them stay afloat, but I have no way of knowing.

We have a further payment for our October cruise due on 1 February, and I am very hesitant to give any more funds to this travel agent in the current circumstances. I have contacted the cruise line for the October cruise, but once again, they won't talk to me because it was booked through the agent.

I have raised a formal complaint with Consumer Protection in my own state, but I'm not sure if this will get a result.

So, in summary, does anyone have advice on:

1. How to find out if the travel agent is telling the truth about the FCC

2. How to remove the October booking from the agent

3. Getting the refund made by a method other than to the original expired card

Sorry for the long winded post, but I am fast running out of ideas, and hate the idea of being at the mercy of a travel agent, so any input is welcomed.

Cheers,

Balsam

3 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

When cruising does commence here I suspect the government will insist that ships arrive with crew only and with enough time in hand to ensure the crew has essentially been in lockdown on that ship for the usual quarantine period, which may include the time it took for the ship to get here from its last port stop.

This is something I have been suggesting for a while.

Apart from the government possibly requiring it, I think the cruise lines will probably want it as well. The last thing a cruise line would want it to have a crew member test positive. They will probably make their crew quarantine on land for 14 days before even boarding a ship, meaning they then have an extra week while the ships sails to Australia with no passengers.

This way, they can be certain that they are not responsible for bringing Covid to Australia.

5 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

That’s only about 5% you tipped uncle Les.

I think the average now expected is 20% .
Then comes the taxes and levies parking ,resort fees,environmental and water contributions.

Hmmm.... a $5.00 tip for a $45.00 bill is just slightly over 11%.

The concern is crew.

They would need to be quarantined for at least 14 days before boarding a ship.

The last thing any cruise line would want is to have a crew member test positive AFTER boarding. This would mean the entire crew and ship would be subject to a quarantine period.

22 minutes ago, dandtgeddes said:

Gidday cruise support team!

 

Just went into the Aussie Royal website to see if late 2022 bookings were open yet

and I noticed that the earliest booking for ANZAC cruises are April 2021.

 

 

Have I missed something?

 

Mum is booked on a replacement trip for March 2021 for the late notice cancellation

we had this year but has not been advised her 2021 trip has cancelled, any ideas?

 

TraceyG😀

Possibly because you have restricted the date range with a start date of Dec 21?

There are definitely earlier cruises there:

2 hours ago, By The Bay said:

I have a booking on the Pacific Adventure for this time next year. Tell me you haven't made a booking. 🤞😉

I'll second that one....

11 hours ago, Biker19 said:

The Global class may change that, if they ever happen -

Definitely. You don't build ships like that if all you want is bums on chairs at blackjack tables 🙂

1 minute ago, Ethanol95 said:

You make some good points, but I think what you have forgotten is that their business model is evolving. It indeed started out as floating casinos, but in the long run, i can see that their vision is to rival global cruise lines like Royal and Carnival brands. With expansion of the upcoming global class Dream ships into more international ports, less focus will be on casino experience as that only applies to the Far East, but then passenger experience, luxury and destinations would become the larger focus of this new market for them.

I certainly wouldn't argue that their model is evolving, as is their fleet, however there will always be an emphasis on the casino. They make a lot more profit there than they do on any other aspect of their business. They also don't market to much other than locals.

Given time, there may be realistic comparisons to other cruise lines, but not as it currently stands.

To put the Dream cruises into perspective....

Dream Cruises was born out of Star Cruises, who were essentially operating floating casinos. The destinations were irrelevant because all they really wanted was to get in to international waters so they could open the casino.

Their ships were always based in places without land based casinos (Singapore, Hong Kong, Mumbai etc). Most of their cruises were aimed at locals (Singapore residents paid minimal amounts for their cruise when compared to residents of other countries).

The turnover in their casinos was huge, hence being able to offer really cheap cruise fares to locals.

The sailing times were definitely structured around allowing locals to board. Superstar Virgo (which is now Explorer Dream), was the main ship based in Singapore, and did cruises to nowhere every weekend, sailing from Singapore at 10pm on Friday night, and arriving back late Sunday afternoon.

When Singapore opened land based casinos, many of the locals still preferred to do their gambling on a cruise ship in international waters, where minimal questions are asked. I believe that for locals to gamble in land based casinos in Singapore, they must produce their tax records as evidence they can afford to be gambling before they are even allowed in the door. Obviously, many locals simply don't want to do this, so there is still a huge market for floating casinos.

My point here is that you can't really compare Dream Cruises with other mainstream cruise lines.

29 minutes ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

 

So your advice is to lie to your employer??

Your mother must be so proud!! 

And people wonder why some countries have been hit harder by Covid?

The first thought isn't "how can I make things safer", it's "how can I get around the rules for my own benefit".

Does anyone have any recent experience with full refunds from Royal Caribbean?

Interested to hear how long they are currently taking?

The concern over booking more cruises becomes greater as time goes on with no restart.

At the moment, there doesn't appear to be much danger other than having your money tied up for something that might not happen. As we go longer with no cruising, the liquidity of the cruiselines will become a big concern. We will go from worrying about "will the cruise happen" to worrying about "will they go bust and we'll lose our money as well as not getting a cruise".

At this point, we've got another cruise booked, but on a very small deposit that we're not concerned about losing, with the next payment not until February next year.

10 hours ago, Biker19 said:

The break even point is usually at about 5 alcoholic drinks per day.

That depends on what else you drink....

If you like barista coffee and fresh juice with breakfast, a few sodas during the day, and three or four bottles of water every day, then three alcoholic drinks per day is the break even point.

Coffee    $4.00
Juice      $3.00
2x Soda $ 6.00
4x water $ 10.00

That's $33.00. Pay as you go and you need to add 18%, or $39.

Now you have two cocktails at $12.00, which is $28.00 when you add the 18%, and you're up to $61.

It's up to everyone to decide if the DBP is good value for themselves.

What really annoys me me is people who say you need to be a complete drunkard to get value out of the DBP. My example above shows that with just two cocktails per day, the DBP is good value.

On the flipside, if you are happy with standard ship coffee and juice, don't touch soda or bottled water, and have one or two glasses of wine with dinner, then the DBP is not for you.

I wish people wouldn't generalise on this topic....