Other cruise lines changing cancellation policies

[tgg]

This is a post from YAHOO FINANCE on March 3. 

 

MSC Cruises has tweaked its cancellation policy to allow any passenger who is booked on a Mediterranean cruise in March and April 2020 to postpone their cruise or switch to a different one operating in another region and sailing within the next year.

 

Viking Cruises is making a temporary exception to its cancellation policy so that passengers can postpone their cruise at any time up until 24 hours before the planned departure, without incurring any cancellation fees. Passengers wishing to postpone will be issued with a voucher for future travel valid for 24 months.

 

Windstar announced a new cancellation policy, the Travel Assurance Booking Policy, for any cruise departing on or after June 1, 2020. It enables passengers to cancel their cruise up to 15 days before the cruise departs without incurring a cancellation fee.

[excitedofharpenden]

There are more. Cruise Critic are updating their news pages regularly..

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5151/

 

Phil 

[chromered7]

It’s ironic that all these cruise lines can provide a solution or alternative and Azamara cannot?

[wripro]

1 hour ago, chromered7 said:

It’s ironic that all these cruise lines can provide a solution or alternative and Azamara cannot?

You mean will not.

[uktog]

8 minutes ago, wripro said:

You mean will not.

The words used have such interpretations, it reminds me (briefly introducing humour to a serious matter) in the 1960s the four camels at Edinburgh Zoo were called Can't, Shan't Won't and Don't

[Grandma Cruising]

As Uktog has already said Azamara probably won’t be allowed by RCCL to have its own policy, they will have to go along with the group policy.

[Doh15]

8 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

As Uktog has already said Azamara probably won’t be allowed by RCCL to have its own policy, they will have to go along with the group policy.

Silversea is owned by RCCL and they have gone to a 30 day cancellation for cruises June 1 to Dec 31. Why would they be “allowed” to do it but not Azamara?
 

Seabourn is owned by Carnival and also is going to a 30 day cancellation policy with FCC. 
 

It seems to me what matters is what the comparable cruise lines are doing, not what every other corporate affiliate is doing (and by my count most but not all of what I would consider Azamara’s direct competitors have gone to 30 day or less cancellation policies for the summer). 

[Baynanno1]

5 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

There are more. Cruise Critic are updating their news pages regularly..

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5151/

 

Phil 

 

All we get is an updated Travel Advisory :

https://www.azamara.com/en-au/travel-advisory

 

We will check your health before you board and if very #### obviously ill will deny boarding.

We will not allow you to serve yourself for the duration of the voyage.

Blah, blah, blah . . . .

[Grandma Cruising]

13 hours ago, Doh15 said:

Silversea is owned by RCCL and they have gone to a 30 day cancellation for cruises June 1 to Dec 31. Why would they be “allowed” to do it but not Azamara?
 

Seabourn is owned by Carnival and also is going to a 30 day cancellation policy with FCC. 
 

It seems to me what matters is what the comparable cruise lines are doing, not what every other corporate affiliate is doing (and by my count most but not all of what I would consider Azamara’s direct competitors have gone to 30 day or less cancellation policies for the summer). 

As I understand it RCCL do not fully own Silversea. The other shareholders may have been able to retain some sort of independence, even tho’ they are minority shareholders.

[excitedofharpenden]

11 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

All we get is an updated Travel Advisory :

https://www.azamara.com/en-au/travel-advisory

 

We will check your health before you board and if very #### obviously ill will deny boarding.

We will not allow you to serve yourself for the duration of the voyage.

Blah, blah, blah . . . .

Azamara really need to get a grip and employee a bit of common sense in this situation. 

 

Phil 

[Lindy028]

7 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Azamara really need to get a grip and employee a bit of common sense in this situation. 

 

Phil 

Totally agree, their response has been a shambles. If they don’t get a grip and quickly they may find their grip on the cruise market falls off a great big cliff! 
 

[uktog]

2 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Azamara really need to get a grip and employee a bit of common sense in this situation. 

 

Phil 

I agree, as I said separate out the cancellation issue from the deployment issue and communicate the former ASAP.  There are more and more now affected. I fully appreciate Azamara may be doing a lot behind the scenes, but they are shooting themselves in the foot now by appearing to have blinkers on to their already booked customers. 
 

 I’ve been put on notice this morning by the organisation I do work for not to book any holidays in a list of countries including Italy between now and 30 June.  They say if I did, there is a risk I could have no work allocated to me on my return (I’m self employed). Unfortunately I’ve got the cruises booked already, fully paid for.  If only I’d booked with Viking, I’d feel happier riding out the storm with the comfort of knowing I could take a later decision.  

[Bloodaxe]

30 minutes ago, Lindy028 said:

Totally agree, their response has been a shambles. If they don’t get a grip and quickly they may find their grip on the cruise market falls off a great big cliff! 
 

 

It's already on the slippery slide.

[Borrie]

18 hours ago, tgg said:

This is a post from YAHOO FINANCE on March 3. 

 

MSC Cruises has tweaked its cancellation policy to allow any passenger who is booked on a Mediterranean cruise in March and April 2020 to postpone their cruise or switch to a different one operating in another region and sailing within the next year.

 

Viking Cruises is making a temporary exception to its cancellation policy so that passengers can postpone their cruise at any time up until 24 hours before the planned departure, without incurring any cancellation fees. Passengers wishing to postpone will be issued with a voucher for future travel valid for 24 months.

 

Windstar announced a new cancellation policy, the Travel Assurance Booking Policy, for any cruise departing on or after June 1, 2020. It enables passengers to cancel their cruise up to 15 days before the cruise departs without incurring a cancellation fee.

This does not apply to us poor plebs in Australia. We have to go on our MSC Divina cruise Miami to Genoa (Northern Italy). Even though Singapore Airlines will now refuse to fly us home. Our Canadian friends have no such problems.

[Wheelhouse]

Now Princess

 

To assist guests' decisions regarding their upcoming cruise vacations during the evolving worldwide COVID-19 situation, Princess Cruises is temporarily making some changes to our cancellation policy for cruises departing up to May 31, 2020.

Revised Final Payment Timing

Additionally, we are amending Final Payment on cruises sailing June 1 through June 30, 2020.

What's New?

The details vary by departure date. The following applies to new and existing bookings on cruises and cruisetours in all markets globally.

Date of Departure*	Benefit
April 3, 2020 or earlier	Cancel up to 72hrs before sailing to receive Future Cruise Credit (FCC) for 100% of cancellation fees
April 4, 2020 - May 31, 2020	Cancel by Mar 31 and receive FCC for 100% of cancellation fees
June 1, 2020 - June 30, 2020	Final Payment moves to 60 days prior to sailing

*Date of departure is from the start date of your cruise or cruisetour, whichever is earlier. Excludes charter cruises.

Guests who choose to keep their booking as currently scheduled for departures between March 9 and May 31 will receive the following Onboard Credit amounts:

• $100 USD / $150 AUD per stateroom for 3 and 4 day cruises
• $150 USD / $225 AUD per stateroom for 5 day cruises
• $200 USD / $300 AUD per stateroom for 6 day and longer cruises

For our guests booked on Crown Princess Mediterranean itineraries, we are finalizing some itinerary changes and a special offer that we will be sharing early next week.

The Fine Print

Future Cruise Credits (FCC) are non-refundable and may be applied to any new or existing booking not yet paid in full on a Princess Cruise departing on or before December 31, 2021.

The FCC does not have to be used on the same product that was cancelled and is non-transferable.

To ensure we cover guests who already made final payment, the revised final payment date means no cancellation fees will be assessed until 60 days prior to sailing.

Timing

FCCs will automatically be applied to each guest’s Captain Circle account after they have cancelled. FCCs will not be available instantly and may take up to 10 business days to be processed.

 

 

[Doh15]

I heard RCCI has scheduled a travel partner webcast which hopefully will roll out a reasonable policy?

 

[Wheelhouse]

Carnival Cruise Line now has the same cancellation offer as Princess.  In addition both are offering additional OBC for those willing to not cancel.

 

https://cruiseradio.net/carnival-changes-cancellation-policy-offers-on-board-credit/

Edited March 6, 2020 by Wheelhouse
syntax

[Grandma Cruising]

And now so does RCCL including Celebrity & Azamara - you can cancel up to 48 hours before a cruise & get a full future cruise credit.

[Baynanno1]

2 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

And now so does RCCL including Celebrity & Azamara - you can cancel up to 48 hours before a cruise & get a full future cruise credit.

 

Denise, where is this information? It is not in yesterday's Travel Advisory.

We are due to sail on 17 march and have not received any such notification.

Trish

[Doh15]

13 minutes ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

Denise, where is this information? It is not in yesterday's Travel Advisory.

We are due to sail on 17 march and have not received any such notification.

Trish

 

 

There was a press announcement this morning--

 

https://www.morningstar.com/news/pr-newswire/20200306fl43077/royal-caribbean-group-adopts-cruise-with-confidence-policy-allowing-cancellations-up-to-48-hours-before-sailing

 

The sister cruise lines appear to have FAQs up about "Cruise with Confidence" (there is more info and links in the coronavirus thread) but Azamara's website doesn't quite seem to have it yet.  

Edited March 6, 2020 by Doh15

[Baynanno1]

Doh15

Thanks. I have since found the link as I scroll through the many posts of the past 12 hours or so.

[uktog]

It would help I think if all the old threads got locked and a new one opened showing the cancellation criteria -  strange there has been no Azamara update yet either on their UK website or here.

[Baynanno1]

30 minutes ago, uktog said:

It would help I think if all the old threads got locked and a new one opened showing the cancellation criteria -  strange there has been no Azamara update yet either on their UK website or here.

 

No communication to cruisers booked to travel within the next couple of weeks either.

 

[BBMacLaird]

The new Cruise with Confidence cancellation policy is now posted on our website:

https://www.azamara.com/int/cruise-with-confidence

[Baynanno1]

11 minutes ago, BBMacLaird said:

The new Cruise with Confidence cancellation policy is now posted on our website:

https://www.azamara.com/int/cruise-with-confidence

 

Thank you Bonnie.

 

Two questions :

1. Will booked cruisers who do not read Forum or Roll Call posts be notified personally via email?

2. Not addressed in FAQ, would any perks of a booking cancelled under the current conditions be transferred to the new booking via FCC?