New Cancellation Policies

[Mura]

Just saw this notice from Oceania:

 

Cancellation Policies

Our cancellation policies are changing for all new bookings made beginning September 1st, 2013. (Bookings made prior to then will be unaffected).

 

For all cruises, the per person administrative fees are increasing from $100 to $250. Just as they are today, these fees may be converted to a Future Cruise Credit redeemable on bookings made up to 12 months after cancellation date and for travel within 2 years of date of issue.

 

For Owner’s, Vista and Oceania Suites, the cancellation amount will be 10% of the fare for cancellations made from 91 to 120 days prior to sailing for cruises less than 15 days, and from 151 to 180 days prior to sailing for cruises 15 days or longer.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wow, that's a hefty increase. Is this the administration fee that kicks in within 120 days? There's no fee for cancelling before that, is there (for regular cabins at least?)

[Mura]

It certainly is a hefty increase!

 

I'm thinking the $250 fee is for cancellations made as you suggest.

 

Mura

Edited August 30, 2013 by Mura

[TKS]

There was a thread regarding cancellation fees a couple months ago, and Mr. Del Rio was active in that thread. The general recommendation was that the $100 cancellation fee would not deter people booking multiple cruises and waiting until the last minute to cancel.

 

The new policy simply sounds like Oceania took that feedback seriously.

Edited August 30, 2013 by TKS

[ggglo]

Where did you see this? I looked on their website and didn't see it,

[Mura]

GGGLO,

 

We get emails from Oceania which are addressed to travel agents. I don't know where they got the idea that DH is a TA, but somehow they did.

 

So this is from an email he received this afternoon. There were some other changes announced as well, but this seemed most pertinent for those of us who post here.

 

Mura

[CAG]

I just received by cruise documents today for our November 4th cruise and these new costs can be found in the ticket contract at the end of the booklet, so they have already been incorporated into their standard ticket contract. If the cruise is 1 to 14 days in length, 120-91 days or more prior to departure $250 per person Administration Fee, for cruises 15 days or more, 180-151 days prior to departure $250 per person Administrative Fee. As Mura posted, this Administrative Fee may be converted to a future cruise credit redeemable on booking made up to 12 months after cancellation and for travel any time.

 

Cenia

[Mura]

That's interesting, Cenia, because supposedly these fees only apply to bookings made after September 1, 2013.

 

Perhaps they are included in your booklet because it's easiest to incorporate these changes once they are instituted, rather than printing one date for earlier bookings and another for later ones.

 

Mura

[dorisis]

I am not happy with the changes. Oceania now asks for a larger deposit than most lines and wants to penalize me if I need to cancel early. BUMMER!!! I have 2 cruises booked and think I will cancel both before the charges apply.

[LHT28]

Just guessing

Maybe too many people book cabins then change their minds when the final payment nears

This is a way of sorting out the serious people from those that are just thinking they may do the cruise

 

If you really need to cancel for a good reason make sure you have insurance that covers your reason EG: medical

 

JMO

[Mura]

I am not happy with the changes. Oceania now asks for a larger deposit than most lines and wants to penalize me if I need to cancel early. BUMMER!!! I have 2 cruises booked and think I will cancel both before the charges apply.

 

But these charges only apply to new bookings. The old fees will apply to your already booked cruises if you should need to cancel. You still need to cancel 121 days in advance (or more), to avoid the fees. But if you did have to cancel between 120 and 90 days, my understanding is the administrative fee would be $100, NOT the new $250.

 

TAs will correct me if I am wrong!

 

However, those cancellations for the top suites are QUITE significant.

 

Mura

[Paulchili]

I am not happy with the changes. Oceania now asks for a larger deposit than most lines and wants to penalize me if I need to cancel early. BUMMER!!! I have 2 cruises booked and think I will cancel both before the charges apply.

 

Of all the reasons to cancel a cruise this is just about the poorest one I can think of. I suspect Regent (your preferred cruise line?) has the same policy.

However, it's your call (obviously).

[potterhill]

 

If you really need to cancel for a good reason make sure you have insurance that covers your reason EG: medical

 

JMO

 

We are always serious when we book. Have only cancelled a couple of times for very good reasons. But to suggest we buy insurance to cover this is nuts. It will cost more than the penalty!

 

I can see that our cruising days with "O" may be coming to an end. In any case I want to do some land trips. Cruises are lovely but can also be frustrating in that time in port is limited. Perhaps we should stick with TAs which we love and there are no heavy duty important ports of call.

 

However if one looks back at that thread that FDR weighed in on, there was an enthusiasm I was surprised at for increased cancellation fees. Beware of what one wishes for.... ;-)

 

Mo

 

 

 

 

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[LHT28]

We are always serious when we book. Have only cancelled a couple of times for very good reasons. But to suggest we buy insurance to cover this is nuts. It will cost more than the penalty!

 

Mo

 

 

If you can afford to self insure that may work for some

 

we had to cancel the day before our March cruise & the insurance paid out $15000.

We were only out the cost of the insurance policy which was less than $1000

 

I consider this part of travelling

[RJB]

I am not happy with the changes. Oceania now asks for a larger deposit than most lines and wants to penalize me if I need to cancel early. BUMMER!!! I have 2 cruises booked and think I will cancel both before the charges apply.

Starting to sound like the airlines a few years ago. Started with small fees and than became bigger and bigger. Is that what will happen here? Next year will we be charged for our bags? First one free and than 25 or 50.00 for the second? Need to put a stop to these fees now or they will just get steeper in the future.

Edited August 31, 2013 by RJB
spelling

[hypercafe]

I really do not see this as a big deal. If you want to spend 10k plus for a vacation does 250 a person cancel fee mean that much? This is caused by people who book many trips early on to get the room they want and then pick the one they really want last minute. When the system is abused this is the result.

Edited August 31, 2013 by hypercafe

[Paulchili]

Need to put a stop to these fees now or they will just get steeper in the future.

 

Great idea!

How do you propose to do that? :D

[RJB]

I really do not see this as a big deal. If you want to spend 10k plus for a vacation does 250 a person cancel fee mean that much? This is caused by people who book many trips early on to get the room they want and then pick the one they really want last minute. When the system is abused this is the result.

Could be some middle ground here. For those people who book many cruises maybe there should be a fee to cancel more than 2 trips a year. For those of us who do not abuse this there should be no fee. That seems pretty fair for the majority who only cancel a trip for a good reason. :)

[wripro]

Let's not forget the increase to the beverage packages as well.

[potterhill]

If you can afford to self insure that may work for some

 

It's not that we can afford to self insure, it's that we can't afford TO insure.

 

If you buy insurance for every trip you take, you have soon spent much more than $15,000 with nothing to show for it. We use our credit cards insurance. We have out of country health coverage through work and on cc. over the years we are way ahead and would still be with a $20,000 claim. But since we have never spent that much on a single trip, at this point we will stay ahead.

 

I can only think of one instance where we had to collect for a cancelled flight due to sudden onset of a kidney stone in DD. Credit card reimbursed in full.

 

I hate insurance. As long as you pay up and nothing happens they are happy. The minute you make a claim, they cancel your policy with almost no notice. ( this was house insurance) We had to sue them. It is a racket. Did I say that I hate insurance??? Lol!

 

Many people spend a lot on insurance for peace of mind. So be it.

 

Mo

 

 

 

 

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[Iceberg 3]

Of all the reasons to cancel a cruise this is just about the poorest one I can think of. I suspect Regent (your preferred cruise line?) has the same policy.

However, it's your call (obviously).

This is a GOOD thing. Should cut down on reservation abuse.

[Rickey 88]

This is a GOOD thing. Should cut down on reservation abuse.

 

I agree! From what I am told, the reservations at Oceania go like wildfire once the new cruises are published. These booking then remain dormant for months preventing others for booking something other than "Wait List".

 

When the final payment deadline draws near, the number of cancellations reach an astounding level as these bookings finally become available. The sad part is that there was never any penalty to these people, and their deposits were fully returned.

 

Now the "playing field" has been leveled out somewhat!! ;)

[Mura]

It is interesting. We booked two TAs on MARINA, one leaving Barcelona on Nov 20th this year and the other leaving NYC for Dover on May 22, 2014. I happened to book both of these a year and a half out (usually we book about a year ahead) and fully intend on taking the cruises.

 

Both are undersold, although the later cruise has sold better.

 

Oceania is offering bargains on both the Nov 10th and Nov 20th cruises on MARINA -- the first being a 10 day Barcelona-Barcelona, the second being the TA from Barcelona to Rio.

 

The May 2014 cruise is wait listed except for A1 to B4 cabins.

 

The Nov 20, 2013 cruise has availability PH1 down to B4. (Top and bottom cabins are either sold out or wait listed.)

 

The Nov 10, 2013 cruise has availability in every category down to B3. We nearly took a bargain offer to add this to our cruise and make it a B2B but DH just didn't want to be away that long. And we could even have had the same cabin. Still could as of today!

 

Both of our roll calls have been very active for more than a year already.

 

So clearly not everyone who books early waits to see. (Caveat: no one here has suggested that everyone who books early does so in order to cancel at the last "free" minute.)

 

I admit that on occasion in the past we did so. Cancelled at the last minute, I mean. But when we booked we THOUGHT we'd be taking the cruise. Then around "free" cancellation time we changed our minds 2-3 times (in a 10 year time frame). I guess we won't so any more! Okay, I should say we won't do any last minute cancelling (unless we have no choice)! You never know what fate has in store for you ...

 

Mura

[wripro]

PotterHill,

 

A very sound theory on travel insurance UNTIL the day you need it and it may cost you $150000 to evacuate home. Ot you get sick two days before your trip and lost the entire amount. Travel insurance is no different form home insurance. You may live in your home for thirty years, never have a burglary or fore or flood or any other incident. Think of what you could have done with all that money? UNTIL the day you need it.

[potterhill]

But we do have cc coverage and private out of country health coverage. Besides I've told DH if I am that bad off just to shoot me.

 

Mo

 

 

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