Eagle_and_hawk

There may be a thread started on this, although I didn't see it.

https://www.cruisetradenews.com/princess-cruises-deployment-changes-summer-2021-alaska-europe/

Princess Cruises has revealed some major deployment changes for its 2021 Alaskan and European cruises.

Majestic Princess, the line’s 3,500-passenger ship, will embark on her inaugural Alaska season from summer 2021, while Regal Princess will return to Europe.

Passengers will be able to experience Majestic Princess for the first time in Alaska, with the cruise ship replacing Alaska veteran, Regal Princess.

Majestic will pick up Regal‘s published ‘Seattle Inside Passage’ departures from May to September 2021, all except Regal Princess‘ scheduled sailing on 4 May 2021.

The scheduled sailing named ‘Alaska Sampler’, departing on 4 May and sailing for five days, has now unfortunately been cancelled.

Leaving behind the icy waters of Alaska, Regal Princess will head to Europe for summer 2021, sailing on a total of 17 round-trip departures from Southampton.

Sailings include voyages around the Mediterranean, Norway, Scandinavia, Iceland and other popular European hotspots.

Because of this, Regal Princess‘ South Pacific Crossing cruise and two Grand Princess seven-day Europe cruises have been cancelled.

Passengers will still be able to sail on Grand Princess, but instead in the warm waters of Mexico and the California coast. The ship will sail departures from Los Angeles, with full itinerary details to come.

Guests who are booked onto Regal Princess‘ Alaska and European voyages will have their bookings automatically transferred to Majestic Princess in Alaska, and from Grand to Regal in Europe. Guests will also receive a new booking confirmation from the cruise line in due course.

Earlier this week, Carnival Cruise Line also announced some major deployment changes, along with the delay of the line’s brand new cruise ship, Mardi Gras.

Originally scheduled to launch this year, Mardi Gras will now debut in February 2021.

Carnival has also delayed its European deployment for 2021. The line has been informing agents that 3,690-passenger Carnival Magic’s European itineraries between 13 March and 3 May 2021, including a transatlantic re-positioning sailing, have been cancelled.

A few interesting things, although seems like most of the anticipated onboard experience is things discussed here on CC in many threads. I don't see us taking another cruise until it sounds more enjoyable, and it's still unknown how long these guidelines or any revised guidelines are going to be in place.

We originally took the option one, which at the time was 150% FCC. Then after thinking about if for a couple of weeks, we changed it to option two as not sure if we would cruise again. If we don't, at least we only lose $800 in a FCC compared to what would have been around $6K sitting out there. At the end of the day, we got all our money back and the FCC is just a big coupon to us, if we decided to use it before it expires.

Still hoping we can,  as have almost two years to use it.

On 6/22/2020 at 11:44 AM, muffydawg said:

Well count me out of traveling to Aruba. Been there on a few cruises but no more. They want your DNA as a condition of arrival by air, to do WUT..  "study you" like a lab rat? No thanks. 

 

"Obligatory PCR testing of ALL arriving passengers (except for those who have previously submitted proof of a PCR test)  and a mandatory 24-hour quarantine at the traveler’s accommodation while awaiting test results." 

 

https://www.visitaruba.com/news/general/corona-virus-and-travel-to-aruba/#newtravelrequirements

I was just doing the math for 1800 passengers getting off a cruise ship. If they can perform a temperature check, and their health interview at the nonstop rate of 10 passengers per minute, that's 600 per hour. Minimum of three hours if they can maintain this schedule with no interruptions, to get everyone off. Of course this is at the airport, so cruise docking might be different.

 Visitors who have submitted proof of a negative test during their ED card application will receive a temperature check and health interview by a medical professional, and if cleared, no further testing or 24-hour quarantine will be applicable to them

5 hours ago, caribill said:

Look at what Cambodia is requiring when you arrive by air. I wonder how many other countries may adopt this same concept.

 

Cambodia has announced that all visitors to that Southeast Asian country will be required to pay a deposit of $3,000 upon arrival at the airport to cover "virus prevention services."

 

And if any passenger on the plane tests positive for COVID-19, those on the same flight will be quarantined for 14 days

 

See full details at:

 

https://www.frommers.com/blogs/passportable/blog_posts/welcome-to-cambodia-that-ll-be-3-000-please

Cambodia has a lot more visitors than I thought. Over 6 million annually, with 1/3 from China. Looks like about 250,000 or so arrive from the USA, per their stats from 2018.

13 hours ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

We will see what is in store for us in the future.....the EU is discussing today possibly not allowing Americans into the EU because of our ineffective ways of dealing with COVID-19.....who would have thought.....aren't we best in the world????

Too early to see how this plays out. Depending on how long it continues, going to be difficult to plan any trip to the EU, be it by air or cruise ship with these stipulations below. They could change their list right before you arrive on an airplane. We are thinking about a trip in October 2021 ourselves, so watching the decision.

European officials said the list would be revised every two weeks to reflect new realities around the world as nations see the virus ebb and flow.

We were not surprised either, as we had been expecting it to be extended.

Keeping our fingers crossed this is the last delay before cruising can resume. 

Really need a vacation about now..................

Just seen this.

Cruise Lines International Association, the cruise industry's leading trade organization, announced it would delay resuming cruises from U.S. ports until Sept. 15.

Concerns about the coronavirus caused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a "no-sail order" through July 24. The CLIA, whose members carry more than 95% of the world's cruisegoers, voluntarily decided to extend that suspension. The suspension may even go past Sept. 15, depending on the trajectory of COVID-19.

Similar to the CDC order, the suspension will apply to vessels that carry 250 or more passengers.

"Although we had hoped that cruise activity in the U.S. could resume as soon as possible after that date, it is increasingly clear that more time will be needed to resolve barriers to resumption in the United States," Bari Golin-Blaugrund, senior director for strategic communications at CLIA, told USA Today.

"We want the traveling public to know in no uncertain terms that when we do resume operations in the U.S., it will be with the confidence that we have the necessary protocols and systems in place and that we have done so with the input of the CDC," she added.

Some cruise lines, including Norwegian Cruise Line, have individually decided to delay sailing until the fall.

The cruise industry has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic after large outbreaks on some cruise ships.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/cruise-industry-to-extend-us-sailing-suspension-until-mid-september

As we read through all of their opinions, if this ends up being being the future of cruising, I don't see us ever going again. It's not the way we want to spend a couple of weeks on vacation, especially at the increased prices we are personally seeing on those voyages in which we might be interested. 

I don't expect there to ever be a 100% cure for this virus, any more than some of the other centuries old illnesses out there. If they come close, then there is the future COVID20, COVID21, etc., to deal with. Don't get me wrong, as it be great to live in an illness free world, just don't see it happening.

Looking back, when we had to decide between Option #1 & Option #2, we seriously thought about the big 150% FCC we could have taken for a cruise we had booked next year. Now I am really glad we didn't as some of the concerns we were thinking about with future cruising, may be what's coming up.

I know a lot of people are ready to go, and can respect that & understand, it's just not something we think we will find appealing ourselves.

12 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

Thanks Carol.  I've already filed a dispute with Citi.  There are twenty more days to run in that dispute period, so if princess doesn't respond to me, maybe they'll respond to the credit card company.

You might keep an eye on the dispute. Our was 60 days and for whatever reason, it was resolved at day #51. It was about 5 days later before I just happen to sign on to our account, and went to review it, as did not receive any email from Citi, that it was resolved on 6/3 I think it was, and still have not. The status just changed to close and noted it was permanent.

3 hours ago, SJunie said:

After waiting over 70 days for the refund for our cancelled March 21st cruise, I went ahead and filed a chargeback with Visa. I just got the disputed amount posted on my credit card. There is still no FCC from the option 2 that we had chosen. 

 

Anyone here who was successful in their chargeback dispute still received their FCC? I have a feeling that we won't be seeing ours.

We received our FCC under option #2 last week and a couple of days later, Citi closed our chargeback dispute in our favor and made the credit permanent. When we filed the dispute, Princess had 60 days to respond, and heard nothing else until Citi closed it around day 51 or so.

8 hours ago, mthomp5 said:

How long did it take for Citi to resolve your dispute?  I disputed mine with my Citi card (through Costco).  I disputed on 5/13 and Citi said Princess has until 7/14 to respond.

I will jump is as just noticed this morning our dispute was closed in our favor. Ours was 4/18 cruise, cancelled 3/10. Didn't receive an email about it, just decided to go look at it online.

We filed dispute on 4/8 and Citi (double cashback) had until 6/12 to respond (60 days). I was waiting to see what would happen this Friday as not heard anything else out of Princess or Citi. So in our case, it was resolved on 6/3 and took 51 days.

It makes me wonder if Princess did not dispute the charge as I would not have expected it to be resolved on it's own, until 6/12.

Either way, we got out money back & the FCC's of 25% in our savings account.

We are getting some movement at least. We cancelled our 4/18 cruise on the CB, on March 10th and was in the 50/50 cancellation period. We had Princess insurance and was waiting for the cancellation details from the TA we used to file the claim. Then we got moved into the 3/12 options & took option #2.

The 25% FCC showed up on Thursday in our Circle Accounts. Mine first and then about 6-7 hours later, in my brides account. I was getting concerned about hers as was afraid something went wrong and they were going to process hers under option #1. At least that part got settled OK. One nice thing is the 25% was based on the original cruise fare we booked online with Princess, and not the reduced fare the T/A gives us, so ended up being a little more than we figured.

We filed a CC dispute around 4/18 or so with Citibank and got a provision credit for what I calculated they owed us. I was surprised Citibank gave them 60 days to respond, which just seems like a long time, given I can get a mortgage fully approved in 30 days or less. Anyway, we are coming up on that 60 days next Friday, and just waiting to see it if they make it permanent or if Princess refunds the amount correctly before then, I can cancel the dispute online with a mouse click. Next go round, I will put this on Amex as just seem to have better policies with things like this.

It would be the Coral for us too, as our favorite ship in the fleet. Two Panama Canal runs & one in Alaska.

Ours is a Citi DoubleCash card and filed the dispute online. When I log on and go to it, there is a button to cancel it. If they decided to credit it back before 6/12, which is the current deadline, then I can just cancel the dispute online.

If so, i think we should be able to use our FCC's to buy stuff. Oh wait, don't have any yet. Never mind.

2 hours ago, as400guy said:

 

IT is the group that builds and TRAINS Accounting & Management to use their systems!  🤑

I agree, and that's from another AS/400 guy with 40+ years in IT. They could have written the software to at least have given the FCC, regardless of which option #1/#2 was selected. Then made a second pass to process the cash refunds as needed, and notified customers with the progress. Instead, we just get very little information, unless they are just telling us they are dragging it out.

I am glad we disputed about 30 days ago, even though not a permanent credit yet as Citi is giving them 60 days to respond. The way I figure it, first one who gives us a permanent credit resolves the issue. I don't expect they will go out of business, but we did not want a big FCC out there if they did, as figured could not dispute that with the CC company, or if when  cruising resumes and we decide not to take another one, we have the money back and not a big FCC. Different for everyone, and not a one size fits all, it's just the way we looked at when we chose the option #2.

We cancelled on 3/10 and got some of ours credited back to the CC as was under the 50% penalty, and had insurance.

Then came 3/12, and we were included under that new option, which was better as did not have to deal with PVP.

We took option #2, and planned on waiting it out. After waiting a month, and hearing all the various information they were telling people, we disputed I think it was on 4/8, for a cruise that was suppose to sail 4/18. It's a provisional credit with Citi, and Princess has 60 days to respond, which is 6/12. The way I look at it, either Princess will resolve it and we remove the dispute or I would *expect* Citi would make if resolved if they don't respond.

I seen no reason to wait on Princess since there was no provisions on their 4/12 options, that we would not receive the 25% FCC if we did not wait.

3 hours ago, Grego said:

What does any of this have to do with Princess Cruises?

The OP booked a Princess cruise(s), it was cancelled, and discussing refunds?

30 minutes ago, san diego sue said:

Anyone file a dispute with their Credit Card Company that had some of their money refunded earlier. When we cancelled a cruise March 5th(for an April 21 cruise) we were in the 50% penalty and got some of it refunded to credit card (a little less than half of what we paid) right away. Then on the 6th of March it was announced that all of us would get 100% back.I did file with insurance for the rest but as most know Insurance was all cancelled because Princess told the insurance company that they would also be reimbursing the insurance to all of us.

So my question is has anyone gotten money back when they cancelled and disputed a partial amount with their Credit card company. Don't know if I will dispute but wondering how that can work. Don't want to dispute the whole charge since I am not entitled to all of it.We took Option 2 and haven't heard from Princess except for the email confirmation.

I have not called Princess to see where they are with refunds since reading here see it is a waste of time.

You are in the same place we are. Cancelled our 4/18 cruise I think it was 3/10 when we were at the 50% penalty and also had the Princess insurance. Two days later, I think is when they came out with the option #1 & #2, and the travel agent asked us what we wanted to do, and we took option #2. Princess credited back to our credit card, the amount for taxes/port charges, and the amount for the Princess insurance, and around 50% of the fare.

Numbers were a little hard to figure out, and we were waiting for a CC credit like many, until about a month ago. We didn't like the way this was looking and decided not to wait, so disputed the balance, as Citi ask us how much of the original charge we wanted to dispute when I did it online. Seems like the total Princess charge was around $3500 at final payment, and they credited us something like $1500 when we cancelled. We took the difference in the two amounts and that is what we disputed, so when it gets settled, it will net to zero. It's still a conditional credit until I think  6/12, as they have 60 days to respond, but wanted to get it going. The deposit was refundable, and were FCC's, and those went back immediately. 

I got the same email, but from Princess. Maybe the OP's came from a T/A.

I am not really seeing anything new, other than checking temperature at boarding and may have to go through a second

screening. 

1 hour ago, LDVinNC said:

We had 2 B2B cruises booked, totalling 42 days.   We paid using 3 credit cards, due to the amount and some special promotions on 2 of the cards.  I always thought you had 60 days to dispute, but I called all 3 cards today and learned that this is not the case, and that credit card companies have varying policies:

 

Bank of America: No limit, but after 60 days cannot be done online

Citi Double Cash: 6 months from date of charge

Capital One: 190 days from date of charge

 

I have decided to wait another 30 days.  That will be the 60 days that Princess "promised".  If nothing by then, I will dispute the charges.

Glad to see Citi Double cash was 6 months as I tried for a couple of hours to get through to them on the phone or to respond in chat at 5:00AM. We could have waited a while longer, but just decided not to. We disputed the charge online I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday, and it was credited back to our card this morning as conditional. Part of that may be due to our sailing was 4/18, and not already past. 

8 minutes ago, LDVinNC said:

I am inching closer to putting in a credit card dispute since we are (barely) within 60 days.

We finally did exactly that this morning. We could not come up with any reason not to do it.

See if you can talk to customer relations and not just a rep at Princess. We had option #2, and in discussing cancellation with my T/A, I accidentally mention we were waiting on option #1. Some how, she mistook that to mean we wanted to change it, she called Princess, and they did.

Then, I had to go back and explain that is not what I meant, and she called Princess, through the phone# travel agents use, and the person on the other end said it could not be changed. All of this happened in less than two hours. She then got transferred to Customer Relations, and  they looked it and said no problem and changed it back to option #2, since of course, nothing had been processed. A lot of dealing with Princess seems to be who you get to talk to when you call.

Good luck in getting it changed.

We decided not to wait any longer. I know those who took option #1 for a large FCC, are probably not waiting on a credit back to their card, unless it was for some of the pre-purchases. 

In our case, it was $3500 cruise, and they credited back $1500 or so when we cancelled. At that time, we were at the 50% penalty and two days before the option #1 & #2 came out. We took the option #2, in which they owed us about $2000 back, and a 25% FCC. Our T/A did contact Princess, and they seen where we were in their system with the option #2 in process.

We planned on letting them work this out, however I can find no reason to wait. The end result is I wait on Princess to credit our card, or I dispute it, and Citi credits my card. There was no agreement with the cancellation options, that we would not receive the 25% FCC, if we disputed the charge, so no reason to wait several more months.  We will have the credit back in 2-3 days and then will check our Princess accounts every once in a while to see if the 25% FCC shows up.

One reason we waited this long, is due to getting some credit back originally, and not sure how Citi would handle the dispute since it's all online, and you pick a charge to dispute. When I selected the charge, further down it ask if I was disputing the entire amount or if not, how much of it was being disputed. I calculated the difference, so once they credit that partial amount back, it will net to zero.

Just see no advantage to wait in our circumstance. We can't seem to get a correct answer for how long we may or may not have to dispute it.