Cunard's Coronavirus Cancellations/Refunds (Merged threads)

[Bedruthen]

21 minutes ago, Hawaii136 said:

We are booked on QM2 May 13 eastbound.  It is basically a better way to get to Europe than flying from California. Our main onward destinations were paris and northern Italy.

given our ages and pre- existing health issues, we are planning to cancel. If we cancel before March 13 we lose 40%. I have been holding off hoping they ease up the cancellation policy.  We are platinum.  We also have a deposit currently on another TA in September, but we can still cancel that without penalty.

We are on the westbound May 6 transatlantic and are also wanting to cancel. Let’s see how things develop.

[resistk]

I hear Royal Carribben has joined Princess and is allowing cancellations - what is the problem with Cunard? 

[oskidunker]

People without Insurance can cancel for any reason up to 72/hours before departure and get Future Cruise credit  of  100% of what they paid. Good until Dec 2021. Final payment dates now changed to only 60 days before departure. Anyone still wanting to travel gets up to $250 credit per state room. Applies to cruise leaving in the next month or two, so far. 
 

Not anxious to pay Cunard 3-4 months in advance for a Sept cruise, so if they don't change dates I will probably cancel before final payment unless The Virus gets under control. 
 

Carnival Cruise line owns Cunard. I wonder which entity has to ok the changes?

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by oskidunker

[resistk]

I want to cancel my June TA - why won't Cunard do the same as these lines?

 

Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara and Silversea will let travelers cancel up to 48 hours before they are set to sail and receive full credit for cruises later this year or in 2021.

[resistk]

2 hours ago, oskidunker said:

People without Insurance can cancel for any reason up to 72/hours before departure and get Future Cruise credit  of  100% of what they paid. Good until Dec 2021. Final payment dates now changed to only 60 days before departure. Anyone still wanting to travel gets up to $250 credit per state room. Applies to cruise leaving in the next month or two, so far. 
 

 

 

Is that Cunard or Princess? I need to cancel, CDC is advising people 60 or older NOT to travel.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/06/health/coronavirus-older-people-social-distancing/index.html

 

[oskidunker]

Princess only so far. 

[resistk]

22 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

Princess only so far. 

 

Given Cunard has one of the most elderly passenger bases; seems like they should be be proactive?

[david,Mississauga]

Canada's chief public health officer is warning travellers to: "Think twice about going on cruise ships."  I am not as concerned about catching the virus on an Atlantic crossing as I am catching it by being quarantined.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/coronavirus-cruise-grand-princess-1.5489320

 

[Bedruthen]

8 hours ago, david,Mississauga said:

Canada's chief public health officer is warning travellers to: "Think twice about going on cruise ships."  I am not as concerned about catching the virus on an Atlantic crossing as I am catching it by being quarantined.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/coronavirus-cruise-grand-princess-1.5489320

 

 

True, but I wouldn’t want to fall ill in the middle of the Atlantic either, with ICU facilities being days away. 

[ace2542]

12 hours ago, resistk said:

I want to cancel my June TA - why won't Cunard do the same as these lines?

 

Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara and Silversea will let travelers cancel up to 48 hours before they are set to sail and receive full credit for cruises later this year or in 2021.

Because Cunard can't afford it. I can see sadly to say Cunard not surviving this outbreak in the longer term and it is all about money. They are putting everything on that 4th ship reviving their fortunes.

[exlondoner]

29 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

Because Cunard can't afford it. I can see sadly to say Cunard not surviving this outbreak in the longer term and it is all about money. They are putting everything on that 4th ship reviving their fortunes.

 

What makes you say this? Is it knowledge or guessing? They charge quite a lot, and their ships usually seem more or less full - never mind the corporate wealth of Carnival hovering (if wealth can hover) behind them. And why would a fourth ship help?

[ace2542]

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

 

What makes you say this? Is it knowledge or guessing? They charge quite a lot, and their ships usually seem more or less full - never mind the corporate wealth of Carnival hovering (if wealth can hover) behind them. And why would a fourth ship help?

 I have been on cunard sailings that have not been close to being full and sailings that have been very full. Staff are under instruction to say the ships are full at all times when they are not. Cunard only has 3 ships if they lose 1 or 2 to outbreak they are in real trouble. A fourth spreads their presence around and gives the brand more options.

[resistk]

34 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

 I have been on cunard sailings that have not been close to being full and sailings that have been very full. Staff are under instruction to say the ships are full at all times when they are not. Cunard only has 3 ships if they lose 1 or 2 to outbreak they are in real trouble. A fourth spreads their presence around and gives the brand more options.

Cunard is not a charity, it is a division of multi billion dollar market cap company, Carnival PLC.  It is my favorite cruise line too but let's not anthropromorphize a public company - by that I mean, it has deep pockets, very deep pockets and likely has spent more on marketing than ships and IMO cannot afford to be seen as an epidemic profiteer while smaller lines, give the consumer a fair deal.  It is is not the pre 1998 Cunard Lines proudly flying the Union Jack while barely staying afloat in an ocean of red ink.

Edited March 7, 2020 by resistk

[exlondoner]

2 hours ago, ace2542 said:

 I have been on cunard sailings that have not been close to being full and sailings that have been very full. Staff are under instruction to say the ships are full at all times when they are not. Cunard only has 3 ships if they lose 1 or 2 to outbreak they are in real trouble. A fourth spreads their presence around and gives the brand more options.

 

Again, I wonder how you know what instructions are given to staff, unless you actually work for Cunard? It seems to me that if, as you say, they are having trouble filling three ships, the last thing they would need would be another half empty ship.

[Pegasus2]

16 hours ago, resistk said:

I want to cancel my June TA - why won't Cunard do the same as these lines?

 

Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara and Silversea will let travelers cancel up to 48 hours before they are set to sail and receive full credit for cruises later this year or in 2021.

AS im sure you know, all those lines are owned by RCCL.

[shippmates]

I spoke to Cunard yesterday regarding our cruises in April and May.  The response that I got is Cunard is working on a cancelation policy and once it is approved it will be released.  Also according to them none of their ships are in harms way.  We are hanging in until the very last minute to see what is going to happen in the next few weeks.

 

[Pegasus2]

23 minutes ago, shippmates said:

I spoke to Cunard yesterday regarding our cruises in April and May.  The response that I got is Cunard is working on a cancelation policy and once it is approved it will be released.  Also according to them none of their ships are in harms way.  We are hanging in until the very last minute to see what is going to happen in the next few weeks.

 

Thanks for posting. I tried to call this morning and got nowhere so emailed.
They had better act fast. I've got payment deadline in two days and i'm not sure I'm going to pay it.

Harms way is subjective, we have people across most of the world who may be recently infected and not know it.

I'm not worried about catching it but more worried about older people and infecting others when I get back.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Pegasus2

[ace2542]

20 minutes ago, shippmates said:

I spoke to Cunard yesterday regarding our cruises in April and May.  The response that I got is Cunard is working on a cancelation policy and once it is approved it will be released.  Also according to them none of their ships are in harms way.  We are hanging in until the very last minute to see what is going to happen in the next few weeks.

 

Thanks for that update we are supposed to be going on the April 25th TA. I know they are not in harms way in the moment but it only takes one person to get onboard the QM2 in either brooklyn or southampton who has the virus and the ship is in big trouble especially in the middle of Atlantic.

[resistk]

1 hour ago, ace2542 said:

Thanks for that update we are supposed to be going on the April 25th TA. I know they are not in harms way in the moment but it only takes one person to get onboard the QM2 in either brooklyn or southampton who has the virus and the ship is in big trouble especially in the middle of Atlantic.

 

Given the interational make up of Cunard passengers it is inevitable unless they go on a hiatus.

[Bedruthen]

Now New York has declared a State of Emergency, I wonder if that might focus the thinking at Cunard HQ. 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Bedruthen

[longton]

I think all their ships are in harms way since the virus is now in nearly every country and some countries are not reporting accurate numbers to avoid economic damage.

 

We are due to board QM2 in Cape Town on 1 April. I am looking forward to it as much as I look forward to going to the dentist. This is the first cruise or holiday I haven't looked forward to. 

 

It takes just one person from passengers or crew to have the virus and then other people get infected and possible ship quarantine. It seems that Cunard are playing Russian roulette.

 

Between Walvis Bay in Namibia and Tenerife in Spain there are 8 sea days. If someone needs a medical evacuation it would be difficult to arrange and medical facilities on land will most likely be basic.

 

We haved decided we will not be joining the cruise. We are hoping Cunard will offer us credit for a future cruise so will sit tight for the next three weeks.

[ace2542]

1 hour ago, resistk said:

 

Given the interational make up of Cunard passengers it is inevitable unless they go on a hiatus.

It probably come to that for the industry to be fair. They probably leave their ships somewhere put the naval and engineering staff on paid leave half paid leave whatever and end up sacking the rest and just sitting tight until a vaccine can be found and pray to god one can be.

[Pegasus2]

6 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

It probably come to that for the industry to be fair. They probably leave their ships somewhere put the naval and engineering staff on paid leave half paid leave whatever and end up sacking the rest and just sitting tight until a vaccine can be found and pray to god one can be.

 

Just relax a bit. You've more chance of dying from a car accident and many other things than from Choronavirus.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Pegasus2

[ace2542]

45 minutes ago, longton said:

I think all their ships are in harms way since the virus is now in nearly every country and some countries are not reporting accurate numbers to avoid economic damage.

 

We are due to board QM2 in Cape Town on 1 April. I am looking forward to it as much as I look forward to going to the dentist. This is the first cruise or holiday I haven't looked forward to. 

 

It takes just one person from passengers or crew to have the virus and then other people get infected and possible ship quarantine. It seems that Cunard are playing Russian roulette.

 

Between Walvis Bay in Namibia and Tenerife in Spain there are 8 sea days. If someone needs a medical evacuation it would be difficult to arrange and medical facilities on land will most likely be basic.

 

We haved decided we will not be joining the cruise. We are hoping Cunard will offer us credit for a future cruise so will sit tight for the next three weeks.

We probably won't go on our cruise now to be on April 25 to be fair and hopefully cunard will as you say offer the credit. We have time yet. And also we have  a princess booked in september with the final payment not yet having been made, we will likely not make it.

[ace2542]

30 minutes ago, Pegasus2 said:

 

Just relax a bit. You've more chance of dying from a car accident and many other things than from Choronavirus.

I will be fine but I can't speak for my 81 year old type 2 diabetic father though. It is him I am concerned about. Princess have already lost 2 ships because of virus and there no telling how long they will be out action for.

Edited March 7, 2020 by ace2542