vinfan

Just heard from Regent that it's required for November Lisbon-Cape Town cruise. Looking for thread on this.

Surprised you’re thinking of cruising this year. As for Hong Kong ... have you read the news?

It's so hard to reconcile what I fear is reality with our hopes. With ships being scrapped and rules imposed by EU (and probably others), it is doubtful cruising will be as we knew and loved it. At least for a long time.

VacationCharlene: we were also booked on that cruise and also got the notice today. I'm still incredulous at the lack of communication from HAL and, moreover, the fact that they didn't send an email confirmation that refund request was submitted. So I have no proof it was submitted and HAL says they can't look passenger requests up on database. I will believe refund when I see it.

I’ve answered before on this topic. You fill out form, hit “submit” and assume,  as with every other online form you’ve ever filled out, you will receive an auto email confirmation. No. You receive nothing. I called HAL who said “we don’r send confirmation emails.” I asked : can you check snd see if you have it on file? “No, we can’t.” How do I know that you have my request? Should I submit form again?

“No, you can’t do that.” And you can’t tell me if you have my refund request? This time, “no, but you can submit the request again.” (?!?!?) 

So I did and when I hit “submit” I now received an auto response to the effect that “This form has already been submitted.”

That, and only, that is what you’ll get from HAL.

Paid internet refunded almost immediately in March. No cruise refund; going on 60 days.

Agree with everyone bot Oaktree and Tennessee: most of us are looking at five-figure payments we’d like to get back!

NO confirmation email, which I assumed I’d get. All it would take is a few simple lines of code to generate an auto response, but HAL doesn’t do it. So I called, hung on for a long wait and finally spoke to a HAL rep who said, “no, we don’t send emails.” Could they check for my request? “No, we can’t.” The only way you’ll know they received it is to fill out the form a second time, hit “submit” and THEN you’ll receive an auto response saying request has already been submitted. Shockingly unprofessional and worrisome.

Once again I will add my 2 cents’ worth regarding HAL’s complete lack of communication. They kept us hanging up to a week before our March cruise, even suggesting shore excursions, when virtually all our destination ports were closed to cruise ships. They announced cancellation of a cruise 6 days before ours and 10 days after, but never ours. All we got was the email announcing the 30-day pause, a timeframe that included our cruise. Worst. Customer. Service. Ever.

Yes, Sapman, I agree. We went for a refund on our cancelled-by-quarantine cruise. Filled out the form three weeks ago, got a quick “request received” when I hit submit and assumed I’d get a confirming email. Nothing. This was a fair chunk of $ for a 28-day cruise and I wanted to make sure they had received request. I did an online chat with HAL and asked if they could check to make sure it was there. “No.” And you don’t email passengers? “No.” Can I resubmit to make sure request got through? (Deadline was the next day and I have no record.)  “Yes.” So I’ll do that. “It won’t let you submit twice.” Logical, but why didn’t they say that? So I filled out online request form and only after “submit” did a message appear that request had already been received. I printed that out. HAL communication has been the worst, whereas Princess sends out occasional emails just to keep in touch.

Even with two HAL ships refused ports, etc., I don’t find this acceptable. All you need is a computer-generated reply.

7-19 business days is wishful thinking. Requested refund March 14 for 3/21 cruise. Nada.

I sympathize with you. We anxiously waited and waited to hear about our March 21 cruise, while HAL cancelled March 15 cruise,  and then cruises in early April. We NEVER received any personal notice about our 3/21 cruise, just the announcement that all cruises were on hold until April 14 (now extended).

I realize the company has  enormous problems with two ships still at sea, but communication has not been good. I'd go for the refund.

Happy to hear those onboard HAL had a good experience, but I can’t say the same for those of us waiting for word on the 3/21 Oosterdam sailing from San Diego. HAL cancelled the 3/15 and several April sailings, but we received no communication whatsoever, despite the fact our destination ports had banned cruise ships days earlier. Calling produced no information. Meanwhile Princess, on which we have a SEPTEMBER booking, sent an email update. Finally we got word yesterday, a week out, that all cruises were cancelled for 30 days.

Use their chat line. You'll get right through and have what they say in writing.

We are platinum cruisers with Princess on the west coast and booked a July Alaska cruise with another couple on the east coast in February. We booked a mutual excursion online at the time of booking the cruise. Excursions must be now paid for at booking, but both couples had sufficient onboard credit to cover the excursion cost. This week, with full cruise payment due, we spoke on the phone with our friends, noting the excursion and our friend mentioned she had called Princess the day she made the online reservation to make sure it had gone through. Onboard credit was applied to cover the cost.

I went to our cruise personalizer and saw no excursion booked. Puzzled, I called Princess and was told the excursion had been canceled. With no notification, Princess canceled the reservation because it was not paid for within 24 hours, despite my having plenty of OBC to cover it. I booked the excursion two days ago and was charged $20 per person more, again with no prior notification, because "prices had gone up."

I spoke to customer relations, to no avail. I was told they were not required to let passengers know prices would go up, nor can I find any stated policy that excursions must be paid for within 24 hours or they would be canceled by Princess.

Does this seem legit?