*****CARNIVAL CANCELLATIONS THREAD-- Please read*****

[glrounds]

34 minutes ago, TomCruise48 said:

 

 

I think that the most confusing and controversial policy is the 70+ fit to sail.  The individual cruise lines are each being bashed for this, when it actually came from the industry trade group CLIA – Cruise Lines International Association.  After the meeting between cruise line execs and VP Pence one week ago, Pence requested a proposal in 48 hours from the cruise industry.  The industry responded through CLIA with the 70+ fit to sail proposal.  Sounds reasonable based on data showing most COVID-19 deaths were coming from elderly with underlying medical problems.  Under the pressure of the deadline, and trying to respond to ongoing situations, this was not well thought out.  It should have been obvious that few, if any, medical professionals would assume the liability to sign such a letter.

 

Indeed, this is the most troubling of the new conditions for sailing that causes concern for this 80-year-old. Have a long ago scheduled doctor's appointment tomorrow so will find out what future I have in cruising. With 43 nights away from DIAMOND status this ole cruiser hates to admit defeat.

[bury me at sea]

52 minutes ago, TomCruise48 said:

What I suggest is that Carnival clarify what parts of their policies are in effect for cruises starting 4/10 and after.  . . .

 

I think that the most confusing and controversial policy is the 70+ fit to sail.  . . .

 

This is a huge issue for me.  Under that policy I will never again be able to sail.  An FCC would be worthless.

Edited March 15, 2020 by bury me at sea

[Joe817]

14 minutes ago, bury me at sea said:

 

This is a huge issue for me.  Under that policy I will never again be able to sail.  An FCC would be worthless.

I agree. I'm 72 & wife is 70. And here we are suspended in limbo.  Or even purgatory, lol. I'm thankful that we have a little bit of time to let the dust settle, as we don't sail until Sept. 13. Time will tell, but right now at this minute, it's not looking good. 

[TomCruise48]

20 minutes ago, bury me at sea said:

 

This is a huge issue for me.  Under that policy I will never again be able to sail.  An FCC would be worthless.

Even a full refund would be worthless to you if you paid with Carnival gift cards and could never sail again.  Refund goes to your original form of payment and would be returned as another gift card.  Only option then is to give or sell gift card to someone who could use it.

 

DW and I have several future cruises all paid in full with discounted gift cards obtained from AARP and Allstate.  We would not be allowed to sail under this policy.  Looks like our children could be getting a lot of free cruises!  Not really too worried at this point.  I think it will all sort out soon.

[glrounds]

 I would guess, if they don't make changes to this "70" rule, that the cruising industry would essentially disappear as we know it and become the new Disneyland at Sea.

 

[bury me at sea]

2 minutes ago, TomCruise48 said:

Even a full refund would be worthless to you if you paid with Carnival gift cards and could never sail again.  Refund goes to your original form of payment and would be returned as another gift card.  Only option then is to give or sell gift card to someone who could use it.

 

DW and I have several future cruises all paid in full with discounted gift cards obtained from AARP and Allstate.  We would not be allowed to sail under this policy.  Looks like our children could be getting a lot of free cruises!  Not really too worried at this point.  I think it will all sort out soon.

 

Same position here exactly.  I have 3 booked, plus the one just cancelled by Carnival, all paid for with gift cards.

 

It seems since the restriction against old folks was imposed after booking, Carnival should be thinking about some way to help alleviate that loss.  The way I read it I can't even let another person take my place so at least my original traveling companion could still go, using the funds already paid by me for a new passenger of his/her choice. 

 

Or something!

 

I have until mid-August to decide what to do about our September trip so it's on the middle burner right now.  The next two are on the back burner.  Meanwhile I have to decide fairly soon about the one just cancelled.

 

Knowing what will be done about the age restriction would make decisions much easier.  Meanwhile Joe817, you have a lot of company in purgatory.

[Maraprince]

On 3/13/2020 at 11:42 AM, LaRue1975 said:

I booked my travel insurance online at Insuremytrip.com, it is with Travelsafe. I was able to get the policy switched my new cruise pretty easily. I had to send them an e-mail including the invoices for the cancelled and new cruises, I got the confirmation and policy the next day. 

NYS residents no longer are able to buy third party insurance.  So, either you buy it from Carnival or you do not have any other choice.

 

MARAPRINCE

[Maraprince]

2 hours ago, bury me at sea said:

 

This is a huge issue for me.  Under that policy I will never again be able to sail.  An FCC would be worthless.

Same here....We switched our May sailing to a late June sailing at a higher rate. Plus, we have another sailing  booked for Sept.  Based upon this over 70 rule, Carnival never should have accepted our monies for the late June sailing and should be refunding our monies for our Sept. sailing.

 

What about all those ads that say that they have cruises for seniors?  Seems like a lot of monies will be lost in the cruise industry.

 

No doctor will give a note......

 

Then, with all the different policies that Carnival is applying, it is confusing and unequal in what they are offering if you cancel and rebook.

 

MARAPRINCE

[bury me at sea]

One change that would help many - certainly not everyone - woud be simply to make the FCC transferable.

 

Another would be to allow name changes so someone else could go in place of the banned party.

 

There are brighter minds than mine, who know more about the cruise industry than I do, who could surely come up with something other than the lose-lose situation some of us are experiencing.

 

This isn't the end of the world, and I don't blame Carnival (except for lack of timely official communication) for decisions they were forced to make in haste.  I hope in due course they will put more thought into how to treat these situations.

 

[TomCruise48]

I’ve been reading posts for days about the current situation.  I can’t help but thinking that now is a good time to take a deep breath, relax, and be thankful for what we have.  My way of looking at this is that I’m not losing money that has already been spent, but rather am losing the experience that I would have had cruising with family, friends, and wonderful crew members.  There will be more opportunities for these experiences in the future.

 

I’m much more concerned about crew and staff whose livelihood is now affected.  Over our many years of cruising we have met and become friends with several crew and staff members and I’m worried about them now.

[Trueblueky]

10 hours ago, TomCruise48 said:

Now that all cruises have been canceled until 4/10, Carnival has a little breathing room and should use this time to clarify their policies.  Three major cancellation policies were issued in a two week period – 1) Ability to cancel through 5/31 and receive FCC or get OBC if you elect to sail; 2) Requirement (from CLIA) for those over age 70 to obtain a release from their doctor and if they could not sail receive a full refund or FCC + OBC; and 3) Cancellation of all cruises through 4/10 and receive full refund or FCC + OBC.  For some guests, more than one of these policies apply and it becomes difficult to sort things out.  I hope that in the next week Carnival reviews these policies to eliminate inconsistencies and extend the date for voluntary cancellation to be more in line with other cruise lines.  Of course, the 70+ policy came from CLIA, and Carnival as the largest CLIA member should take the lead on getting this policy clarified.

 

Once Carnival straightens out their policies, they should post them along with a FAQ section on their website with the disclaimer that the situation is dynamic, and these policies are subject to change in the future.  If people could get their questions answered on the Carnival website, that would cut down on the volume of phone calls that is overloading their system and those of their travel advisers.  In the best of times, many Carnival customer service reps are not familiar with all the policies, and with this rapidly changing situation, it must be difficult for them to keep up.

Interesting that people blame the association when it made up of cruise lines. 

[KingRuth]

I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned.  Carnival isn't even sticking to 30 days.  They are starting operations sooner than the 30 day timeline.  It affects people who are right on the boarder who would have gotten cancellations/full refunds/etc had they stuck to the 30 days.  

[Maraprince]

On 3/13/2020 at 11:42 AM, LaRue1975 said:

I booked my travel insurance online at Insuremytrip.com, it is with Travelsafe. I was able to get the policy switched my new cruise pretty easily. I had to send them an e-mail including the invoices for the cancelled and new cruises, I got the confirmation and policy the next day. 

NYS residents no longer are able to buy third party insurance.  So, either you buy it from Carnival or you do not have any other choice.

 

Too much confusion as to what applies to what.  Also, unless policy changes for those over 70 yrs. of age, Carnival should not allow them to make a reservation at this time as if things are normal.

 

MARAPRINCE

[TNcruising02]

On 3/15/2020 at 11:41 AM, bury me at sea said:

 

This is a huge issue for me.  Under that policy I will never again be able to sail.  An FCC would be worthless.

Hopefully, things will change.  Their strict restrictions on medical conditions will also count a lot of people out.  Surely, once a vaccine for the virus is in place, all restrictions will be removed.  But I read that could be a year from now.

[PaulMedik]

I currently have eight cruises booked with Carnival and intend to sail each one.  With that said I would prefer CCL stock at current price (Today it's 13 per share) over FCC applied to an additional booking or even to one I've only paid deposits on (All are booked Early Saver so cancelling to rebook with FCC wouldn't be too beneficial).  I'm not interested in a refund simply because I can afford an alternate vacation option if the cruise is cancelled; if not I would opt for refund.  My next cruise is April 27 and then July 25; July 25 is paid in full.  After than starting in September only deposits are paid on next six.
Anyhow, I would opt for CCL stock and I know the logistics of setting up a Carnival vetted brokerage would be significant, but it would be the optimal option if possible.

Edited March 17, 2020 by PaulMedik

[OddJob]

Refund

[Langoustine]

Stock.

[jimbo5544]

Interesting thought Paul, we have 5 booked and the stock is inviting.  That said, I have no idea how they could make that work....

[PaulMedik]

Just now, jimbo5544 said:

Interesting thought Paul, we have 5 booked and the stock is inviting.  That said, I have no idea how they could make that work....

Jim,

It's 12.5 now and assuming it recovers within five years that same amount now would pay for five or more cruises in the future even after paying the government theft fees (taxes).

 

[jimbo5544]

1 minute ago, PaulMedik said:

Jim,

It's 12.5 now and assuming it recovers within five years that same amount now would pay for five or more cruises in the future even after paying the government theft fees (taxes).

 

The math is inviting......  I saw they just borrowed 2 bill for expense for the next 6 months.  That talks to financials in the short term. They either start sailing on the shorter end of the time line or something will have to give.   

[bury me at sea]

Cash.  If the restriction on cruisers 70 and older stays in place, the offer of a future cruise credit and OBC worthless.

[frito58]

Refund or FCC , I don't have much faith in their stock rebounding for quite awhile . 

 

[sanger727]

If you want stock, take the refund and buy stock. I've never heard of a company giving stock in lieu of a refund and the logistics of it would be terrible. Take the money and do whatever you want with it. Not sure I understand this.

[nhraformula00]

I  would take the stock.

[Denverdonkeys]

20 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

If you want stock, take the refund and buy stock. I've never heard of a company giving stock in lieu of a refund and the logistics of it would be terrible. Take the money and do whatever you want with it. Not sure I understand this.

issuing stock instead of a refund would be an accounting nightmare. it would complicate the revenue recognition process. the accounting department would not be happy with it!

 

unless that saved their jobs...

It is an interesting in theory because it would save cash, and not hurt future cash flow like the FCC does.