ab21au

2SailingNomads, I think it is personal preference.  I disagree but I’m allowed to. 😀

Unfortunately it takes all types. (I heard someone abusing Handre once and you could not get a nicer person or more experienced.) 

3 hours ago, FlyingScotSailors said:

We have until penalties begin in August 2021 to decide if we are comfortable with what travel and cruising look like at that time.

We are not allowed out Queensland let alone Australia at the moment and I suspect it will be that way until a vaccine is available.  So far this year we have cancelled :
 

Feb 28 - Hong Kong to Singapore on SB

July - Cyprus to visit our son and family. 

August - Athens to Athens on SB

A couple of trips to Melbourne 

Several trips to Sydney to visit our other son and family.

So the video conferencing has been huge in our place over the past six months. 
 

If only COVID had waited a couple of months, at least we would have gotten the first cruise in. ☹️

8 hours ago, rols said:

Perhaps domestic flights are less affected but international travel has all but stopped. Examples, our flag carrier, Singapore Air has 96% of flights cancelled, Emirates was down below 2% flying last I looked, BA, all flights from Gatwick cancelled until further notice and most other routes flying once a week, EasyJet, none flying, RyanAir, none flying. Many countries currently have quarantines on returning residents and absolute bans on non-residents. I can't actually think of the nearest country to here I could fly to at all, not Malaysia, not Indonesia, Thailand, Australia or NZ. Even if I found one I could go to, I'd face 2 weeks quarantine at a government facility at my own expense when I returned. 

My sister-in-law just returned from Sweden, it took her nearly 2 weeks before she found a flight which wasn't cancelled before it took off and that ended up going via Doha, 6 people on the plane to Doha, 4 from there to Singapore. There is a skeleton service flying to bring residents home worldwide with a couple of flights a week but for the most part international flights are completely suspended because there are vanishingly few people who can enter many countries right now. 

It is the same in AUS, only AUS citizens are allowed in and they must quarantine in a hotel at their expense for 14 days. QLD state border is closed, only Queenslanders are allowed in. 
 

Qatar has had flights to BNE but only to bring returning Australians home. Emirates and Etihad have announced they are about to do the same. 
 

13 hours ago, kjbacon said:

We live on the east coast near Philadelphia, a short but scenic drive to New England. We have enjoyed many a road trip and many a delectable, fresh lobster. We are still deciding whether a whole steamed lobster or a classic lobster roll is our favorite!

We drove from NYC to Burlington up HWY 100 (could not take the hire car across the border, so we bused it from there).  Loved it. We stayed at Shelburne Farm by Lake Champlain. There are so many great parts of the world, it’s a shame we can’t see them at the moment. 

38 minutes ago, zelker said:

Have been to Alaska on 6 cruises and love it up there. 

Nice to here that, glad you enjoy it. Haven’t been to that side. When were did Montreal to Boston, it was a toss up as we wanted to do both, but chose New England side. So when things calm down I am sure we will get to Alaska. Thanks. 

4 hours ago, zelker said:

Or just walk off the ship in Juneau and go to Tracy's King Crab Shack - https://www.kingcrabshack.com/

 

That’s what we did on the East Coast in Bar Harbor for a lobster meal. My mouth is watering at the thought, and a great way to dine. 

On 5/4/2020 at 5:46 PM, dalliowner said:

I think there is only a shower over the bath on the Encore and Ovation .

That may be the case in the smaller suites (23sq m) I think, on about deck 7 or 8 (near the front of the ship) which may differ but most suits are identical and have both separately. I have not been in or even seen a penthouse suite so I can’t comment on that. 

I have been on both the Ovation and the Encore and apart from the decor (the marble is lighter in color) the bathrooms in most suites are virtually the same as the Odyssey and the Quest. 

Even though the showers are small, they are fine for us and I would rather the extra space elsewhere in the cabin rather than the shower which only gets used for about 15 mins a day. 

2 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Sound to me like Seabourn wants their cake and to eat it to!!!!!

I wish they would not keep changing the conditions all the time.  It seems there is a different policy for each canceled cruise. 

10 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Which cruise was that?

It was late Feb and cancelled a couple of weeks earlier. 

6 hours ago, zelker said:

FYI, did anyone else see that on April 24, Seabourn updated the April 14 "pause" announcement to allow use of FCDs through the end of 2022 rather than 2021 as was initially done?

ours has not changed and I refreshed the pages.

”Please allow up to 60 days for processing. Consumer must use the FCC towards a future Seabourn cruise booking(s). Consumer must use the FCC by December 31, 2020 or it will be forfeited in its entirety. FCC is only valid on cruises sailing in 2020 and 2021. The consumer must use the FCC to book a cruise(s) by December 31, 2020; such cruise(s) needs to sail by December 31, 2021. FCC may be subject to additional terms and conditions as provided by Seabourn and may not be used for deposits, TF&PE, or SeabournShield. ”

.... and on the news page, link dated April 14.

”Seabourn guests on impacted voyages will receive a 125% refund on monies received in the form of a future cruise credit, which must be booked by Dec. 30, 2020 but can be applied toward any future cruise through December 31, 2021. For guests who do not opt to choose the 125% future cruise credit, a 100% refund of the monies paid to Seabourn will be reimbursed to the original form of payment.”

Unless the old pages are cached on a server somewhere between SB and my computer. 

5 minutes ago, Rambo_Trout said:

 

Just to be clear ab21au,

 

You HAVE had your Refund? You are the first that we know about. How long did you have to wait?

Yes but we were on one of the first cruises they cancelled. And then we had to wait a while (not sure how long but it was weeks, not days)

1 hour ago, scottie920 said:

Quick question. Has anyone received any form of communication from Seabourn to advise that they have received your request for a refund or FCC and that it is being processed? Thanks.

No.  I have received the refunds.  I have nothing from SB but the TA may have received an email and not forwarded it. 

15 minutes ago, DWF said:

I was impressed as they owed me nothing.

That is nice to hear. My Travel Insurance refunded me also when I phoned them. I took out the policy 7 months previous.  Their only concern was that I was going to try to claim from them, what I knew I could not as I had read the PDS. 
 

I also claimed airline cancellation fees from SB which they paid within a few weeks. But that was early March. I do hope you get your cruise refund soon. Personally I think SB should have employed someone to send out emails, to keep guests updated. 

9 hours ago, Isklaar said:

SLSD, sometimes our posts here do not come across in the way we intend them, or we don't fully explain our train of thought. It happens to us all.

I think of you as a thoughtful and considerate poster and although I was somewhat taken aback when I read your comment  I made the assumption that how I read it was certainly not how it was meant when you typed it.

Well said, Isklaar, that is also what I thought. I think everyone should get their refunds and I’m sure SLSD does also.
 

However I am also sure that some want to get their refunds before SB/Carnival run out of money and that is understandable. Personally I think that Carnival won’t run out of money but that is only a guess from what I have read. 
 

8 hours ago, zelker said:

You're assuming that my husband and I book cruises using money we can afford to lose??!!??  You're not serious, are you?

I don’t think that is what is meant. I don’t think that anyone wants to lose money, I certainly don’t but I won’t be begging for my next dollar if I do. 
 

I felt so sorry for the thousands I saw at the Overseas Terminal in Sydney lined up to board the Ruby Princess on the 8th March, who were there, what appeared to me and from what I saw in news interviews, because they had saved for a long time for the “cruise of a lifetime” and could not afford to lose the money.

22 hours ago, norm2002 said:

 

This app also sounds interesting. Contact-tracing appears to be grossly undervalued in most countries.

I will tell you whether it works. I downloaded it yesterday.
 

Because of the early shutdown, AUS  has done well. I hope it continues when things open up. I think that is the purpose of the app, not for now but for when thinks open up.

I think in the last 24hrs AUS only had 4 additional cases, and are testing over 20,000 test/million population which is very high. So I don’t expect the app to do much for now but from this weekend, when things open up, it may be totally different. 

56 minutes ago, marazul said:

My friends in both France and Spain are going through a miserable, scary time and most of us in the USA have not experienced anything like it, yet. 

For the moment, I think I am glad to be Australian and living in Australia.  It is so sad seeing what is happening around the world. 

12 hours ago, HappyFeet13 said:

I fully understand   I get it now. Will wait patiently for my $47,000. Thanks for the clear and detailed response.👍

Did you get a better deal through Amex Travel?  When I looked at cruises, the price was $2,000 more than Seabourn’s website. I booked my airfare through Amex Travel as it was cheaper and I could use the $450 per year credit we get. 

6 hours ago, zimflyer said:

It occurs to me that cruise lines are doing themselves a lot of damage

You have to remember that for everyone that leaves SB for another line, the guest not happy with the other line will come to SB. So they probably do not care because they know it will be reciprocated.

1 hour ago, HappyFeet13 said:

Just heard from AmEx travel. They told me "tough luck", I have to wait for Seabourn travel to credit my $47,000 back for cruise and air (Seabourn booked Qantas for me via Seabourn Air). So...my theory didn't work. I paid Seabourn the final balance due for 4-29 cruise, and for airfare,  last December, for a flight in April.  I doubt that Seabourn gave the money to Qantas back then. I still think that if Seabourn stiffs me, I have a claim against AmEx. We'll see. 

I booked our BC airfares to Hong Kong through AMEX Travel and I had to cancel through them (not Qantas).  They refunded me within a few days, the cc statement says Amex Travel, not Qantas. Amex waived their cancellation fee of $55 each but not the $450 yearly credit we had used against the payment. Qantas had a $400 each (I think) cancellation fee which was refunded within 6 weeks by SB. So in all, we lost the $450 yearly Amex credit less the $110. I was happy with that outcome for a $6500 purchase. 

16 hours ago, jozi said:

Sadly people were still getting mixed messages as late as March 8.

In AUS, our PM by then was giving daily updates. 
 

Feb 1 : a ban on travel from/through mainland China

March 9 : reconsider all cruising

March 11 : a ban on travel from Italy

March 13 : all Australians to reconsider the need to travel overseas

March 17 : all Australians to return home ASAP

March 18 : DO NOT TRAVEL to any country

March 24 : a Gov ban on any overseas travel

The thing that I find interesting is that Australia’s PM announced a pandemic 2 weeks prior to WHO

I watched many press conferences in early March and our PM and Trumps media conferences were like chalk and cheese. Some said ours were too negative but I would rather that than Trumps positivity.  
 

This is an article from our news and repeated, in frustration, by our PM. 
 

“Thousands of Australians ignored Prime Minister Scott Morrison's call to stop overseas travel during the coronavirus pandemic, new data reveals.

The Federal Government raised the advice for all overseas travel to the highest level - four - on 18 March, meaning everyone - regardless of destination, age or health - should not travel overseas.

But about 16,000 Australian citizens still chose to fly overseas between 19-30 March, despite the restrictions.  The staggering figure was revealed in data provided by the Department of Home Affairs.

A further 3,800 Australians flew out after the official ban on all overseas travel came into force on 24 March, though they did require a government exemption, which can be granted for people who ordinarily live overseas, have essential work abroad or on compassionate grounds. 

All returning overseas travellers are now required to undergo mandatory quarantine in hotel rooms and other accommodation, funded by state governments.

The West Australian government is considering whether it is possible to charge returning Australians who travelled overseas despite the warnings.

“It was grossly irresponsible of people to go to Bali or Thailand or Britain or wherever it was,” WA Premier Mark McGowan said.

37 minutes ago, zimflyer said:

Maybe because they trusted Princess or Carnival Corporation to do the right thing...!

Maybe I’m being harsh, but in Outbreak Unleashed it seemed that everyone from the ship that was interviewed wanted to blame others and not take any blame for boarding in the first place. I am not saying that Carnival, the ship or the NSW health have no blame but they were in an uncommon situation and dealing with something that no one knew much about (other than China). I do agree that after what occurred with the Diamond Princess, more caution should have been taken. 

1 hour ago, teamflames said:

I could be wrong but I don’t think the criminal investigation is in regards to the deaths of the passengers but the risk towards those in the public who were exposed because they weren’t informed of the risks?

I agree that the general public should not have been exposed to guests from the ship but IMO, one would need to be xxxx not to be aware of the risks in boarding the ship on the 8th March. We had cancelled our late Feb cruise 1 month earlier. (Maybe we were lucky our friend who is a Dr in ICU at the Gold Coast hospital had told us by then how terrified she was if social distancing was not effective.  She did not want to be one of those who had to decide who would get a ventilator and who would die (as has happened around the world). 

... and there is a criminal investigation in AUS re the Ruby Princess which left Sydney on the 8th March. Why would you get on the Ruby Princess in March and put money before your life.  
 

We had cancelled our SB cruise 4 weeks before this. 

On the tv show Outbreak Unleashed, the guests from the ship want to blame anyone and everyone but take the blame themselves. While I feel truly sorry for the deaths, I do also think that the guests have to accept some of the blame for cruising at that time. 
 

The criminal investigation should be into the many deaths in the Dorothy Henderson Nursing Home which did not get any action until it was too late, they had no choice in the matter, the guests on the Ruby Princess did.   

19 minutes ago, teamflames said:

Anyway, clearly as usual on cc there are those who no cruise line can do wrong

I guess I’m one of those you are talking about. We cancelled our Feb 29 cruise before SB cancelled. We got a FCC.  As SB cancelled the cruise I could have gotten more but it was our choice to cancel and we a happy with that. 
 

At the time (early Feb before things really spread) we then booked a cruise for July/August and I added a reminder in my calendar when we moved into 12% cancellation. So I cancelled before that date. Could we have waited? yes. But the relief to have it all finalized is amazing.

Apart from the FCC, SB have paid me everything I asked for and so I cannot complain out that.