Cancelling Cruises because of the C word

[staygulf]

7 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I doubt that is definitively true, and in these exceptional circumstances, even if it were, it could lead to the holiday company going bust, or finding it impossible to maintain liquidity. So I suspect offering FCCs would be acceptable in this situation, but I guess it could keep the legal profession in employ, if they are not self isolating.

I don’t see how something enshrined in UK law can not be “definitively true”

[Lynnwood]

8 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I doubt that is definitively true, and in these exceptional circumstances, even if it were, it could lead to the holiday company going bust, or finding it impossible to maintain liquidity. So I suspect offering FCCs would be acceptable in this situation, but I guess it could keep the legal profession in employ, if they are not self isolating.

I did read on one of the many thousands of posts lately that someone with Marine Insurance experience had said the the cruise companies had insurance cover for this type of incident? perhaps the OP could  repeat this.I did try to look for it but.... 

[Bobblehat71]

46 minutes ago, arlowood said:

My dilemma is this.

 

Wife and I both mid-70's so on advice of Government we should not cruise.

We have a Norwegian Fjords cruise booked on Aurora in early July. The cruise was booked through a Travel Agent that we have used for the past 12 years for all our cruises. Their date for the final payment (£5000ish) is next week which is about 3-4 weeks before the actual 90 day P&O date. I think this is normal practice with TA's and has never caused us a problem in the past.

 

We are still keen to go on the cruise and have none of the underlying health conditions that put us at even higher risk from CV

 

If we pay the balance and the over 70's ban is still in place in July then we will be in the hands of P&O in terms of any refund /FCC options.

With Norway declaring a state of emergency and effectively shutting down any cruising activity then there is the possibility that the cruise may have to be cancelled if those ports are still closed in July in which case we should qualify for a full refund.

 

However my risk averse gremlin is also whispering - what if you pay the balance to the TA who then holds it until P&O requires payment but goes bust in the interim due to the catastrophic collapse of the cruise industry. What then?? Will I be at the end of the queue of creditors trying to retrieve my money from any administrator appointed.

 

Also heaven forfend - what if P&O goes belly up.

 

The safest option would be to cancel and transfer our FCC to a new cruise in 2021but we already have a cruise booked in May and have other commitments later in the year that make cruising a bit difficult.

 

Just hoping that maybe P&O extend the qualifying period for the FCC into the full 2022 season - that would be much better for us

 

I would not be in a hurry to part with my cash at the moment. Regardless of P&O's current refund policies who's to say that either P&O or your travel agent will still be in business in a few months time. 

Personally I would transfer the deposit you've paid to future cruise (or sit tight and possibly get a refund if there's a policy change). If your cruise is still going in July just rebook closer to the ail date.I'd say there's a very good chance you will get a better price than what you have now 🙂

[kalos]

Another twist on the Covid saga!

 

Just a thought on these travel bans the USA put into place tonight on Europe flights.

Donald Trump has put a ban on European passenger flights into the USA to stop Covid -19 .

Our flights UK  and Irish are to carry on as normal as I understand it .

What is there stopping anyone from say from France getting a flight to London /Dublin  and then 

buying a flight into the states from there?  😕😕😕

[terrierjohn]

1 minute ago, kalos said:

Another twist on the Covid saga!

 

Just a thought on these travel bans the USA put into place tonight on Europe flights.

Donald Trump has put a ban on European passenger flights into the USA to stop Covid -19 .

Our flights UK  and Irish are to carry on as normal as I understand it .

What is there stopping anyone from say from France getting a flight to London /Dublin  and then 

buying a flight into the states from there?  😕😕😕

Nothing but dont tell Donald.🤫

[Bobblehat71]

1 minute ago, kalos said:

Another twist on the Covid saga!

 

Just a thought on these travel bans the USA put into place tonight on Europe flights.

Donald Trump has put a ban on European passenger flights into the USA to stop Covid -19 .

Our flights UK  and Irish are to carry on as normal as I understand it .

What is there stopping anyone from say from France getting a flight to London /Dublin  and then 

buying a flight into the states from there?  😕😕😕

 

Your French Passport for one and also the Airline would also need to know where you have just travelled from , home address etc etc. Unless you really broke up your journey eg, stayed a couple for a couple of weeks in London, Dublin etc then its hard to get around it.

 

[staygulf]

4 minutes ago, kalos said:

Another twist on the Covid saga!

 

Just a thought on these travel bans the USA put into place tonight on Europe flights.

Donald Trump has put a ban on European passenger flights into the USA to stop Covid -19 .

Our flights UK  and Irish are to carry on as normal as I understand it .

What is there stopping anyone from say from France getting a flight to London /Dublin  and then 

buying a flight into the states from there?  😕😕😕

Nothing would stop them but they might be refused entry when they show their passport at the border

 

[Adawn47]

11 hours ago, Selbourne said:

The speed with which this whole situation is evolving is unbelievable and quite frightening. It’s almost as if a large part of the World is going into meltdown. With stock markets now down by around one third in a matter of weeks, the impact on businesses in general is clearly anticipated to be enormous, but for industries such as cruising it will be catastrophic. There will inevitably be cruise company casualties at the end of all this, which is very sad.

 

Within just 24 hours of receiving positive (albeit belated) news from P&O about revised cancellation options, we now have a situation where more ports are closing to cruise ships by the hour and over 70’s and those with health conditions are now advised against cruising. Surely it is going to be completely impractical for any cruise ship to set sail before too long.

 

We have not opted for the cruise credit for our upcoming cruises as it now seems highly likely that by sitting tight we will be able to get a 100% cash refund. I bet P&O now wish that they had introduced their revised policy much sooner, so as to tie a greater number of passengers into future cruises. They sat on their hands for far too long and, as a result, will end up having to refund far more cruises than would have been the case had they acted sooner. I now predict that they will be equally slow (and probably one of the last) to cancel cruises altogether, hoping that large numbers of booked guests will transfer bookings, thus avoiding the need to refund them. If someone had written a novel just 6 months ago with a storyline like this, people would have said it was too far fetched to be believable. 

That's probably why, 7 1/2 months before our cruise and 4 1/2 months before the balance is due, they offered us a free cruise transfer. We want to go on our cruise so we'll  hold fire and pay the balance. It seems the  better option for us,  because if they know something that we don't about the whole 2020 season, we'll get a refund. We got a good deal on this cruise and next year's as well and I suspect  the prices for 2021 will increase to cover this year's loses. Thanks Selbourne for your post. I read through it a couple of times and we were undecided what to do at first. This helped us decide.

Avril 

[kalos]

7 minutes ago, staygulf said:

Nothing would stop them but they might be refused entry when they show their passport at the border

 

That's what I was thinking but a bet a few will try it .

[arlowood]

12 minutes ago, kalos said:

Another twist on the Covid saga!

 

Just a thought on these travel bans the USA put into place tonight on Europe flights.

Donald Trump has put a ban on European passenger flights into the USA to stop Covid -19 .

Our flights UK  and Irish are to carry on as normal as I understand it .

What is there stopping anyone from say from France getting a flight to London /Dublin  and then 

buying a flight into the states from there?  😕😕😕

Before you travel to the USA you usually need an ESTA. That ESTA is linked to your passport and the country of issue. With the current ban you would not be granted a new ESTA from the countries affected by the Trump ban and if you had an existing ESTA you would be turned away at check-in wherever that was due to the origin of your passport

[Harry Peterson]

35 minutes ago, staygulf said:

I don’t see how something enshrined in UK law can not be “definitively true”

I'm not so sure about this one - under which legislation are travel companies required to refund when a passenger is advised by HMG not to travel?

 

Isn't this an insurance issue?

[staygulf]

1 minute ago, Harry Peterson said:

I'm not so sure about this one - under which legislation are travel companies required to refund when a passenger is advised by HMG not to travel?

 

Isn't this an insurance issue?

No. Look at Regulation 12(7) Package Travel Regulations 2028. You can cancel for a full refund. 

[staygulf]

Edited March 13, 2020 by staygulf

[staygulf]

That was the DTI guidelines to business explaining the legislation. 

[davecttr]

2 hours ago, beaveh said:

What are people thoughts on how things might pan out at the European cruise season kicks off? Also when would it usually kick off? March? April? 
 

I think the situation my be different for cruisers departing from Southampton, as no flying or travelling to other countries is involved. But I don’t want to end up stuck in my cabin or bobbing around in the sea for a week with no ports of call open.

 

they could change all Southampton cruises to uk ports only. Quite nice.. but I didn’t sign up for a uk circumnavigation 🙂

IMO there won't be a summer cruise season. This virus is not going to go away in a few months. 

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

Do we know for certain that P&O are offering refunds for over 70s cancelling?

Even on saver fare? 

Avril 

[Vampiress88]

Question

 

if p&o decide they will still go on a cruise at what point do they tell us the itinerary has changed? And when does the change become significant enough for a full refund? 
we aren’t cancelling currently but it makes a difference if we do cancel how many days prior for partial refund and we can not make decisions like that without having the full facts. 
 

my head hurts with all this.
 

I just don’t want to go on a cruise to no-where. 
 

there’s an update on fb from someone on  

R003 that was supposed to be heading Norway. 

“announcement from Captain Love.

Still awaiting final plans from Southampton, however we continue to move slowly north and he expects more details to be available in the next couple of hours.

He signed off by saying ‘enjoy the adventure”

[arlowood]

9 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

Question

 

if p&o decide they will still go on a cruise at what point do they tell us the itinerary has changed? And when does the change become significant enough for a full refund? 
we aren’t cancelling currently but it makes a difference if we do cancel how many days prior for partial refund and we can not make decisions like that without having the full facts. 
 

my head hurts with all this.
 

I just don’t want to go on a cruise to no-where. 
 

there’s an update on fb from someone on  

R003 that was supposed to be heading Norway. 

“announcement from Captain Love.

Still awaiting final plans from Southampton, however we continue to move slowly north and he expects more details to be available in the next couple of hours.

He signed off by saying ‘enjoy the adventure”

Norway has declared a state of emergency with schools closed and restrictions on those travelling into the Nordic region. My guess is that no ports will be allowing passengers to disembark. 

[vitrocmax]

From the CC list of current (13.3.20) restrictions in place:

Norway: All visitors coming into Norway will have to quarantine for 14 days, making it impossible for those coming by cruise ship to visit the country.

 

It would still be possible to travel to and around the country and enjoy the scenery, but trips wouldn't be available.

[jeanlyon]

53 minutes ago, staygulf said:

Nothing would stop them but they might be refused entry when they show their passport at the border

 

and what about all the Europeans that live here in the UK.  Are they banned from travel to the US.  He hasn't said so.   Mind you, he's such a pillock, he probably wouldn't know that.

Edited March 13, 2020 by jeanlyon

[staygulf]

Just seen that Sir Patrick Vallance says that the virus will return year after year, like flu, and it will take 60% of the population to be infected to build up herd immunity. 

[arlowood]

2 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

and what about all the Europeans that live here in the UK.  Are they banned from travel to the US.  He hasn't said so. 

Would make no difference where they live. If they don't have a passport issued by the UK passport agency they will not be able to get an ESTA to let them travel

[Katie scarlett]

I got the email about transferimg cruise

mine is iona oct so plenty of time

until  july to pay or aug to change

does this mean deposit is transfered too? So its not lost?

also if i paid up july do i still qualify for a transfer up until aug?

TIA🙂

[jeanlyon]

12 minutes ago, arlowood said:

Would make no difference where they live. If they don't have a passport issued by the UK passport agency they will not be able to get an ESTA to let them travel

They might already have an ESTA.  He has not banned Europeans from travel to the US, he has banned flights from Europe.

[arlowood]

11 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

They might already have an ESTA.  He has not banned Europeans from travel to the US, he has banned flights from Europe.

Their existing ESTA will still be issued on their national passport so will not help. The ban is specifically on "foreign nationals" from Schengen group countries not on flights from those countries