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3 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

IMO.......

I think I would call the insurance company myself and not relay on a TA.

Insurance was thru Princess, not sure who their underwriter is but I'm assuming their call agents have briefings on what the policy is and how to respond given the current situation.  I'm sure they are getting lots of calls from customers 

7 hours ago, compozer said:

Is anyone else finding they can not get prices for cruises?   I tried yesterday and again this morning.    It states pricing not available under each  cabin category.   

Yup, have had this multiple times trying to find pricing for some offers I got on email.  I'm assuming they are capacity controlled and are now sold out. 

9 minutes ago, Jilliebean28 said:

"Cancel for Any Reason" insurance is somewhat misleading as most policy plans exclude losses caused directly or indirectly by an Epidemic, which Coronavirus currently is categorized as.  I would definitely contact your travel agent or read your travel plan policy very carefully.

Prior to my Asia cruise being cancelled, I had insurance with CFAR but my TA was told that it wouldn't cover this situation as it does not cover epidemics.  So definitely check your policy and call the cruise line before making assumptions.  

If you were booked on the Sapphire for Asia cruises over the next few months, check your email.  Princess has sent out notice that they are cancelling the sailings.  An excerpt of the announcement below 

I am showing some interesting things when I go into the cruise personalizer on the Princess website, if you are booked on Sapphire over the next 3 months check your account.  Under My Account select Upcoming Cruises.   Take a look at your account status, info right below your Captain's Circle info

I am showing a cruise credit and OBC.  Anyone else? Booked on Sapphire in May  

11 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Sapphire is docked in Singapore with a destination: Sembawang Shipyard...  EM

Perhaps that is just somewhere to "park it" for maintenance and other activities til it resumes sailing March 1st? 

So for anyone on the March 1st sailing, this could cause further disruptions to itineraries, Vietnam is turning away ships

https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/world/vietnam-turns-away-cruise-ship-over-coronavirus-fears-state-media-411205/

2 hours ago, gemrocks1 said:

Well we are here stuck in Singapore after receiving our email cancelling our cruise less than 18 hours after ship departs. 

Is there a Princess rep at the cruise terminal handling customer inquiries?   Or does everything have to be done via their customer service telephone lines? 

1 minute ago, Ombud said:

Review website. Cancellations go up to:

> Diamond March 12th

> Sapphire June 11th

For those who've already arrived near embarkation point Princess will

> reimburse cruise fare to method paid (cc or gift card) & issue FCC = amt spent on cancelled cruise

> cover unreimbursed airfare, hotels, reasonable expenses

Sapphire is still sailing March, April and May.  There are only two round trip Sapphire cruises out of Shanghai in June that are being cancelled.  

4 minutes ago, leck57 said:

 

Not correct. The next two Sapphire Princess cruises are cancelled as well as all Sapphire cruises out of Shanghai up to June. In between Feb and early June there are a number of cruises out of Singapore, at this stage.

Lots still up in the air.  I am supposed to board May 10th in Hong Kong but Princess can't tell me if I will be boarding there or if it will be moved to another location.  And who knows if they won't cancel the remaining cruises like NCL and Celebrity.   This is my criticism with this, they don't seem to really have a plan.  It's all reactive  

4 minutes ago, strachan01 said:

An absolute joke from Princess! We are over in singapore and have had one email which went to my junk mail. Our TA has had very little information other than they won't cover the flights to and from singapore, only the price change to get us home. Truly truly farciacal from a company already in the media spotlight. Given the timing it seems as though they waited for people to voluntarily cancel to save costs! We phoned every day last week as we had our doubts but were told the cruise would go ahead. I received the email at 1600 intoo my junk mail, way less than 24 hours notice. 

They are handling this very poorly.  It's profit before passengers from the looks of it, sad to say.... 

50 minutes ago, TrixieBel said:

We are on the 1st March sailing and I was just thinking this through in terms of what one outcome could be if the cruise company keeps our cruise going... This is the outcome that we and our travel companions are hoping for... 😬

- there’s coronavirus spreading in England and pretty much every other country now and the death rate is still 2% or lower, with 98% (or more) of people surviving
- the people will all get off the Sapphire today and it will sit empty until 1st March. This gives time for the ship to be completely sanitised and to sit clean until that date.
- we get on to a VERY clean / sanitised ship on 1 March and have a great time.

Princess are not stating why this cruise and the next one are being cancelled.  It's probably one of two things. 

- There are 5 clusters of Coronavirus outbreaks in Singapore at the present.  It is spreading thru the public independent of people going to China therefore the numbers will most likely continue to increase for several weeks.  This may be a pre-emptive strike before Singapore becomes a "no go" zone like cities in China and Hong Kong  

- Rumours online were that ports do not want cruise ships visiting when originating in cities with Coronavirus outbreaks as evidenced by what is going on with the Westerdam. 

By next week, the situation in Singapore could explode, there was someone working in a bank just diagnosed so maybe we'll see a jump in cases for Singapore.  Ship could arrive back into a city that has flights cut off or severely restricted

I hope you get your best case scenario that you have outlined but I think it's going to be a while before the situation in Asia outside of China stabilizes

3 minutes ago, Jnsplace1 said:

 I don't think this is much different than the cancellation being done by various airline companies.  Many of them have canceled the remainder of Feb flights, and are assessing March.   I'm sure all sorts of businesses are doing frequent risk analysis.  I cannot imagine the cost and pain on all sides affected by this.

They cancelled with less than 24 hours notice.  People already flew to Singapore to board the ship, were checked into their hotels ready to wake up the next morning, have breakfast and head to the port. 
 

The risk isn't going to change in 2 weeks, there are 6 clusters of outbreaks in Singapore and they do not involve people who have been to China.  This is people to people outbreaks.   It's not going to disappear March 1st. 

2 minutes ago, Mapu said:

What is truly disconcerting is that the Princess Website has not been updated today with the most current information. The last update was yesterday.

They really are not handling this well.  You would think that with the Diamond Princess in the news, they'd be hyper-sensitive to further erosion of their reputation and would be on top of things and dealing with matters proactively vs this totally reactive response. 

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

Isn't this the reason you buy trip interruption coverage?  It even looks like from the OP's e-mail that Princess may on a case by case basis reimburse PAX for uninsured losses.  In the long run, Princess has a responsibility to not take its PAX to any danger spots in the world.  Princess would certainly be negligent if PAX got sick and died because they ignored all the warnings and just went ahead with planned itineraries because it might be inconvenient for some PAX.  Last minute cancellations are a part of travel of any type, it's a risk we all take when we book travel.

For people who are already there, will they get reimbursed for things in their trip that were used?  IE: The airfare to get to Singapore, their hotel room they booked for overnight?   

Still amazed that they'd cancel with less than 24 hours notice and frustrated they are only looking at near term, nothing cancelled for March or later.   Other websites are flooded with concern from people booked for the sailing departing March 1st. 

I'm not sailing til May but if you're gonna pull the plug on Asia cruises, do what NCL did vs one or two at a time on short notice. 

26 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Yes, heard that the announcement was made on the ship before the official notice went out from Princess.  Agree that Princess should cancel cruises to the area for a while, not sure if six months is appropriate but at least two would seem prudent and then reassess as the situation unfolds.

They will eventually run out of ports to go to.  They've nixed China and Hong Kong, who knows how the Japanese are going to feel about future cruise ship visitors and according to this, South Korea is putting restrictions on cruise ship passengers.  And we don't know the underlying reason for the Sapphire cancellations, speculation is that some ports were not going to allow the ship to dock but that is all hearsay

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22439-coronavirus-cruise-impact-wednesday-update.html

South Korea has issued new health standards, requiring ships submit various documents to government officials before entering any port in the country. Among the reporting requirements are whether any passengers have a cough, fever or any other flu-like symptoms. “As long as one person has symptoms … no one on the ship will be allowed to disembark.”

1 minute ago, azbirdmom said:

 

They actually cancelled on the same day, a few hours before embarkation.  It's February 13th in Singapore.  Feel so bad for everyone there scrambling to find a way home.

It was announced to the current passengers on the ship last night of the sailing for people who may have booked a B2B

Princess is not handling this well, realistically they should be suspending all Asia cruises for the next 6 months til the situation stabilizes before they have a repeat of the Diamond or end up with a ship that no one will allow to dock.    

2 minutes ago, voljeep said:

Princess is just now cancelling a cruise that leaves tomorrow ???

Based on what is being posted on other websites from passengers, yes....  

Princess has cancelled the Feb 13 and Feb 23rd Sapphire Princess sailings out of Singapore.  Booked passengers woke up to find notices from Princess today on the cancellations

Good that they have finally acknowledged that Singapore is being impacted by Coronavirus almost as much as Hong Kong.  But very poor of them to wait until the last minute to do this.

Question is, how much longer is Princess going to continue to sail in Asia?   There is a lot of stress and tension amongst passengers with bookings over the next few months.  Some clarity of the situation and forewarning would be appreciated vs cancelling on short notice subjecting passengers to financial loss for cancellation of airfares or hotels. 

This is turning into a real PR nightmare for them, question is how much longer are they going to continue to sail in Asia vs cancelling all cruises like other lines? 

6 hours ago, Fosters1951 said:

Your cruise is still 3 months away. No-one, not even the medical experts, know what will be happening with coronavirus that far out, as the situation keeps changing daily. The cruise lines are doing what they can, based on what is known about the coronavirus, which even the medical specialist dealing with it don't have all the answers.

However, closer to time, when there is a clearer picture on what is happening with the virus, if there is still an issue, princess would move the boarding location to another port. 

Yeah, to Singapore....   Which has more cases of Coronavirus than Hong Kong. 
 

3 hours ago, hobbyfarmer2 said:

Don't really understand your post.  I read the latest update on the Princess website everyday.  It is really easy to find.  Give it a try.

OK, since you've been following this every day, you are up to speed on how they plan to continue to do business without exposing future customers to Coronavirus.    Explain to me details around how they will handle my situation and what is going to happen based on what they have posted 

I am scheduled to depart Hong Kong on May 10th on an 8 day cruise ending in Singapore.  But if you have been in Hong Kong at any point in the 14 days prior to your cruise, you will be denied boarding.

How do I board my cruise departing from Hong Kong if I can't be in Hong Kong?   Please go re-read what Princess has posted and explain to me how this is all going to work.   

They themselves don't have an answer so I am not sure they really know how to handle the situation and are overwhelmed by the Diamond quarantine.  

Thanks in advance

3 hours ago, KL Smith said:

 

 

Has anyone else canceled on this cruise or considering it?

 

Has anyone heard of any potential no-charge cancelling policies from Princess for upcoming cruises other than the ones in Asia already announced?  

You are more likely to contract Noro or influenza on your cruise than Corona virus.

I am on the Sapphire Princess departing Hong Kong May 10th and as of now, they are unsure where the cruise will depart from.  They are not offering us no-charge cancellation for an Asia cruise so I can almost guarantee you that if you cancel, they will give you nothing and it will be at your financial loss.  

11 hours ago, cpjenks2001 said:

 

Not too concerned with room being crowded. We've all shared hotel rooms before

Your cabin will be 1/3 to 1/4 the size of the hotel room you shared.   

13 hours ago, Fletcher said:

 Only the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Taputapuatea, a magnificent ancient site of a Polynesian temple.  The enormous stone platform here is one of the major sites of the South Pacific.

Personally, I found this underwhelming.  We were expecting to see interesting ruins but the tour guide explained that when the missionaries came to the South Pacific, they destroyed all the old temples and other things relating to the native religious practices.  It's basically just a stone platform, no statues or structures.   Of the 7 islands on our cruise, Raiatea was the least interesting.  We also docked on a Sunday so everything in town was closed.  If I did it again, I'd book an excursion to a motu off Taha'a

I don't know if there is a formal advisory out but I am taking an Asia cruise in May and had the option of boarding in Shanghai or Hong Kong and opted for Hong Kong due to the current diplomatic spat between Canada and China.   That said, with the violence and instability going on in HK right now, HK could be just as questionable as travelling to Shanghai