Has anyone tried cancelling their upcoming cruise?

[swin26]

We were able to cancel and after 2 hours on the phone they honored the cancellation policy in the invoice when we booked.  Yes, we lost some money, but I feel good about our decision.  We did have insurance, but not cancel for any reason.  In the future we will consider that as well - on top of medical coverage.  I hope that it turns out that we jumped the gun and the situation in Europe improves, but I can’t risk being quarantined.  

[mkkao924]

On 3/2/2020 at 10:23 AM, Nymich said:

I saw an article the other day that the Carnival ships are going to offer full refunds if one shows up on embarkation day with a fever.  I thought that was an awesome thing to do for people.  Not sure if Holland is included in this?

 

 I wonder if they will refund the whole group or just the person who's having fever? We will be traveling in June on Westerdam, and if my kid has a fever, then I need to cancel too to take care of him...

[albingirl]

I think it is smart to be prudent.  We always take cancel for any reason insurance, and good thing we do.  We've got a transatlantic scheduled for April 2020, and who knows what things will look like then.  I really feel we are more fortunate than 99% of the world's population, so there's no need to complain if we skip this cruise.  We'll see as we get closer, but right now I bet we cancel. I'm happy to book with HAL PCC, so that always makes these situations easier.

[*Miss G*]

3 hours ago, swin26 said:

We were able to cancel and after 2 hours on the phone they honored the cancellation policy in the invoice when we booked.  Yes, we lost some money, but I feel good about our decision.  We did have insurance, but not cancel for any reason.  In the future we will consider that as well - on top of medical coverage.  I hope that it turns out that we jumped the gun and the situation in Europe improves, but I can’t risk being quarantined.  

 

Good to hear.  I’m glad you got the results you were looking for.

 

Just wondering who is the “they”?  Was thinking if you’d gone through a 3rd party booking site then that might explain the pushback as they may have additional days embedded into their own contract.

[Guest]

I called today.I leave Sunday on The Statendam.Not only did they say full penalty, also said ship is full.

[*Miss G*]

It’s March/Spring Break.  I’d be surprised if the ship wasn’t full.

[Mtn2Sea]

Yesterday I called the travel department for the Big Box Store in order to make a payment for a cruise that leaves in January.  After hearing the message that the wait time was 60 minutes, I hung up since I would be unavailable in an hour.  When I called today, the message indicated the wait time was 68 minutes.  When I spoke with an agent, I arranged the payment and then asked if they were getting many calls from people trying to cancel their cruise.  She said she didn’t know about other agents, but one third of her calls that day involved cancellations, one third were from people asking if upgrades were available since people were cancelling trips and the remaining third would be considered normal calls.

[jakers]

We are cruising out of Tahiti on  March 15th and doing a B2B to Mexico on the following cruise. Just out of curiosity, I kept a close eye on occupancy on both cruises. There were plenty of cabins available on December 15th, and we were offered an upgrade at no additional cost to an outside cabin. We declined the upgrade but they were able to move us on the first cruise so that we did not have to change rooms for the second cruise. Fast forward to the problems with the Westerdam and Covid-19 and now both cruises are almost full and the price has gone up. Go figure. I can only consider that some of the people from the cancelled Westerdam cruises were rerouted to the Maasdam. 

[Roger88]

10 hours ago, swin26 said:

We were able to cancel and after 2 hours on the phone they honored the cancellation policy in the invoice when we booked.  Yes, we lost some money, but I feel good about our decision.  We did have insurance, but not cancel for any reason.  In the future we will consider that as well - on top of medical coverage.  I hope that it turns out that we jumped the gun and the situation in Europe improves, but I can’t risk being quarantined.  

Its good that you got your money back (at least a certain sum). How old are your kids? I mentioned earlier in a previous thread that going somewhere with the little kids is a bad idea. They are very vulnerable to influenza and other viruses and bacterias. Moreover, your tour will be ruined if you kid falls ill. If I would go alone, I would travel just fine. But if you ve got a family and kids Id rather stay at home. No insurance will protect you from the virus

Edited March 4, 2020 by Roger88

[surfer100]

On 2/27/2020 at 12:33 PM, surfer100 said:

Like many, I did not want to get caught in the emerging coronavirus quarantine spider web. So, I called HAL yesterday to explore re-booking options. 

 

Was referred to the 'coronavirus department.'   Learned that I could roll my booking into a new cruise, so long as it sailed this year and the current 75% cancellation penalty rate went with it. 

 

I confirmed that the Volendam's Dec 21 Holiday cruise would qualify. 

 

Then called my TA to implement it.  When I logged into my HAL account this morning the transatlantic cruise was gone and the holiday cruise was there.  So it appears to be a done deal.

 

HAL earned beaucoup goodwill points IMHO!!

 

Of course, as always with this type of CC informational post, YMMV and the offer may change tomorrow.

 

Good luck!

 

I also wrote by email to HAL to ask that they make rebooking more flexible over coronavirus concernss.

 

Received this reply:

 

"Thank you for your recent correspondence with Holland America Line regarding the Coronavirus. We ask that you please call our special line for this issue at 1-800-577-1729. This line is available 7a-5p, Monday-Friday, 8a-5p Saturday and Sunday. All hours are Seattle time (PST)."

 

Same qualifications as always, YMMV, offers change, and it may not work for you.  But may be worth a call to their special line..  Good luck!

 

(Reposted from the Apr 04 Nieuw Amsterdam Transatlantic thread.)

 

[*Miss G*]

12 hours ago, Mtn2Sea said:

Yesterday I called the travel department for the Big Box Store in order to make a payment for a cruise that leaves in January.  After hearing the message that the wait time was 60 minutes, I hung up since I would be unavailable in an hour.  When I called today, the message indicated the wait time was 68 minutes.  When I spoke with an agent, I arranged the payment and then asked if they were getting many calls from people trying to cancel their cruise.  She said she didn’t know about other agents, but one third of her calls that day involved cancellations, one third were from people asking if upgrades were available since people were cancelling trips and the remaining third would be considered normal calls.

 

Did she mention if this was a departure from the norm?

[Mtn2Sea]

1 hour ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Did she mention if this was a departure from the norm?

Yes.  We then briefly discussed the Coronavirus situation.  In the past, my wait time for an agent has been 10-15 minutes at most.  The long wait time is what prompted me to ask about people calling about canceling their cruise.

[shudie]

We are on a 29 day Transatlantic with 2 kids later this year. We called TA 2 days ago - our final payment is May 12 and we have until May 8 to cancel with full refund. We are going to decide then and have a back-up land plan. Having sunk years of savings into many non refundable bookings either end...it’s hard to know what to do! 

[kazu]

18 minutes ago, shudie said:

We are on a 29 day Transatlantic with 2 kids later this year. We called TA 2 days ago - our final payment is May 12 and we have until May 8 to cancel with full refund. We are going to decide then and have a back-up land plan. Having sunk years of savings into many non refundable bookings either end...it’s hard to know what to do! 

 

It’s the uncertainty that is the killer.  By your date there should be a good indication of what’s going on and the summer months are coming too.

Sadly we are past final payment & I find myself wishing I had a crystal ball.  We are hanging in there thinking either a) things will improve or b) itineraries will be changed to avoid the hot spots and/or may have to offer cancellation?  Who knows?

The White House meets with cruise lines CEO’s on Saturday.  No idea what it is about but it might be interesting to hear the reports after.

 

[SwimCarrie]

So...not sure if you all saw, but Grand Princess is under a quarantine of sorts. (Look at the Princess page). Such a bummer. 😞 Prayers to everyone who is currently on the sailing or the last one. We are definitely cancelling our March 14th cruise...just too soon to have faith we won't be quarantined. We have another booked for May and final payment is due on March 7th. 3 days to decide on that one, too. Boo hoo! I love to cruise and am so sad this is happening. I'm not even as sad about losing the money as I am about losing the experience! Good luck to all of you, whatever you decide! 

[shudie]

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

It’s the uncertainty that is the killer.  By your date there should be a good indication of what’s going on and the summer months are coming too.

Sadly we are past final payment & I find myself wishing I had a crystal ball.  We are hanging in there thinking either a) things will improve or b) itineraries will be changed to avoid the hot spots and/or may have to offer cancellation?  Who knows?

The White House meets with cruise lines CEO’s on Saturday.  No idea what it is about but it might be interesting to hear the reports after.

 

I hope for those like you who are past cancellation time that cruise companies do the right thing by you all! 
 

My mum just messaged, there is a case just diagnosed at Northern Beaches Hospital 5 mins from home and where my husband does the phones... will be going out with my antiseptic wipes today 😂

[kazu]

13 minutes ago, shudie said:

I hope for those like you who are past cancellation time that cruise companies do the right thing by you all! 
 

My mum just messaged, there is a case just diagnosed at Northern Beaches Hospital 5 mins from home and where my husband does the phones... will be going out with my antiseptic wipes today 😂

 

I suspect that once the testing is done in the U.S. there may well be a lot of cases there too.  After all the other countries are testing 1,000’s a day and the U.S. has only tested around 500 (from the last report I saw - it may be up now).

Hope you, your DH  and your Mum stay safe.

 

[Tennessee Titan]

HAL has a Cancel for any Reason policy on the website. "for certain cruises BOOKED  AFTER MARCH 1"..... Not too generous...

[TriumphGuy]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

 

I suspect that once the testing is done in the U.S. there may well be a lot of cases there too.  After all the other countries are testing 1,000’s a day and the U.S. has only tested around 500 (from the last report I saw - it may be up now).

Hope you, your DH  and your Mum stay safe.

 

I sort of suspect that this thing has been bouncing around the US and Canada for weeks, if not months. I'm wondering if a lot have had it and never knew it or experienced mild symptoms. Since testing has been virtually nil and even now is sparse, how would we know?
I have no data to back this up; it's just a nagging feeling I have.

[Seasick Sailor]

My sister is calling tomorrow to cancel. She has a lung issue. (Scleroderma) and her pulmonologist told her this afternoon not to travel. She has a doctor's letter, but I don't know if that will help her with cancellation. She didn't book insurance because she lives in San Diego and the ship leaves from there. She was going to join us on the Mexican Riviera cruise portion before we continue on. 

Will let you know what powers that be tells her. 

[Crusinsusan2]

4 hours ago, TriumphGuy said:

I sort of suspect that this thing has been bouncing around the US and Canada for weeks, if not months. I'm wondering if a lot have had it and never knew it or experienced mild symptoms. Since testing has been virtually nil and even now is sparse, how would we know?
I have no data to back this up; it's just a nagging feeling I have.

I do totally agree with you on this. Testing has been SO very limited that there is no way to know how many cases have already been rolled into normal flu season stats until this came front and center in the last few weeks. I think when/if widespread testing actually occurs for anyone presenting with respiratory symptoms the number's will increase dramatically.  

 

[Pee-ah]

1 hour ago, Crusinsusan2 said:

I do totally agree with you on this. Testing has been SO very limited that there is no way to know how many cases have already been rolled into normal flu season stats until this came front and center in the last few weeks. I think when/if widespread testing actually occurs for anyone presenting with respiratory symptoms the number's will increase dramatically.  

 

As will the survival rate!

 

Those MOST effected are people with underlying medical conditions. I have a cruise scheduled with my 82 year old mother and she has asthma... we are still sailing in May.

 

Its almost two months from now. And to be honest I do think that the media hysteria will die down. (What sells adverting space.. fear)

[rj42]

I'm not worried about getting sick, but if one person on a ship gets sick, then you either won't be allowed to return home and/or will be quarantined, which I don't want to risk, especially after the Grand Princess is now stuck in limbo. It had infected people getting off the ship in Mexico and Hawaii, and Seattle has had the virus spreading for weeks, and Vancouver is up to 12 cases, with a significant Chinese and Iranian immigrant population. 

 

While the cost of not going on a cruise can be high, you get your taxes back, you don't spend all the money on gratuities, drinks, shopping, and getting to a ship, and with all the fears and hassles and suspicion anytime anyone coughs or sneezes or wheezes, it's not my idea of a fun vacation. You can also put it in perspective, that if you have a lot of savings in the stock market, you've probably lost much more recently than the cost of a cruise. 

[FlaMariner]

The decision process for us is similar to other similar decisions.....

 

• When the stock market is up, we sell
• When the stock market is down, we buy
• When it's winter in London, we travel to London (no crowds)
• When it's Saturday, we avoid Wallyworld and Disney World
• When people are not cruising because of the fear of getting a serious flu, we look for cruise bargains and cruise

YMMV....but we tend to not follow the herd....Works most of the time...plus it's exciting until we are quarantined in our inside cabin....then everybody can say "we told you so"....LOL.

 

Life's an adventure.....as HAL says "Savor the Journey"

[mgetta3]

On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2020 at 12:11 PM, AncientWanderer said:

Viking has temporarily changed its cancellation policy.  As I understand it, they are allowing folks to cancel 24 hours ahead and receive a future cruise credit.

This to me is a very responsible thing to do, so that people don't feel obligated to board planes and appear for a cruise if they aren't feeling well to travel.  A healthier ship will result and there will be less spread of illness overall.

Except they've doubled the price of my cruise next year, so the future cruise credit is worthless.  What a rip off.