Canada Ban on Cruise Ships until July 1st

[npcl]

8 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

One thing the US Govt could do is create temporary waivers of the PVSA to allow Alaska cruises to work from LA, SF and Seattle.

Until the outbreak ends I doubt Alaska is going to want large cruise ships in the small port towns. Considering the limited medical facilities. For example the hospital in ketchikan has only 25 beds.

[Thrak]

21 minutes ago, npcl said:

Until the outbreak ends I doubt Alaska is going to want large cruise ships in the small port towns. Considering the limited medical facilities. For example the hospital in ketchikan has only 25 beds.

 

I agree with you on that and could certainly understand them not wanting to risk infection. Sadly, the cruise industry represents a huge portion of the income for the business in Ketchikan.

[npcl]

1 minute ago, Thrak said:

 

I agree with you on that and could certainly understand them not wanting to risk infection. Sadly, the cruise industry represents a huge portion of the income for the business in Ketchikan.

diamond international will certainly suffer. 10 years ago the money largely went to locals. These days a lot of it goes to people that just come in for cruise season.

[nooptere]

38 minutes ago, npcl said:

Until the outbreak ends I doubt Alaska is going to want large cruise ships in the small port towns. Considering the limited medical facilities. For example the hospital in ketchikan has only 25 beds.

I can't imagine how Seattle or Alaska would ever allow ship loads of infectious passengers and crew to do weekly turnarounds, and then turning them loose in the communities.

 

Put a fork in it. It's done...

[wrongwaywatson]

1 hour ago, frugaltravel said:

I assume you know that you are actually not sailing from Anchorage, but from Whittier, about an hour SE of Anchorage.  Well, you "were not" since that cruise almost certainly will be canceled unless some relief of the PVSA is given.

 

 

Yes, I knew that.  We are flying into Anchorage and the Princess site itinerary says Anchorage with Whittier in parentheses.  

[Thrak]

58 minutes ago, npcl said:

diamond international will certainly suffer. 10 years ago the money largely went to locals. These days a lot of it goes to people that just come in for cruise season.

 

There are a lot of small, locally owned, shops that may well fail if they lose the profit from even one cruise season. I don't care about DI but the local small business people worry me.

[cruze610]

10 hours ago, picture said:

We have a 14 day cruise leaving from Los Angeles at the end of May with a stopover in Vancouver.

does this mean our cruise will be canceled?  Anyone know ? Status of those Alaskan Cruises ?  That would just about wiped out the season?

I’m wondering if since Trump declared a national emergency today and vowed to help the cruise industry because its “so important to our nation” maybe they will lift the Jones act and ships will not have to visit a distant foreign Port before returning to the US. 

[jimmieg]

With about 24 ships cruising Alaska, mostly on 7 day trips- it's over.  Seattle can't accommodate all even with a legal work around.  

The promise to re-evaluate after June 30, in my mind, is too late to salvage the second half of the season for ships or passengers.

Major quandary for logistics and reservations.

[PescadoAmarillo]

3 hours ago, Italy52 said:

Please forgive me as all this is new to me.  Since it appears that my cruise will be cancelled, I will probably opt for the funds from my present cruise to be applied to a future cruise.  Are you saying that these funds will not be covered under a new insurance policy for the new cruise if I have to cancel or am cancelled in the future?  If so, I guess a better option would be to have the cruise line refund my money to me and then rebook so I can get an insurance policy to cover all aspects of my new cruise.  Am I understanding this correctly? 

Yes, that is what would happen. For example, you apply an $8000 FCC to a $10000 cruise and purchase Princess Vacation Protection for that cruise. If you cancel for a covered medical reason, you file a claim and receive a $2000 refund (I’m speaking in generalities here, and disregarding things such as taxes and fees). If you cancel for a non-covered reason (CFAR), you receive either 75% (standard coverage) or 100% (platinum coverage) of $2000 back as an FCC. You didn’t pay cash for $8000 of the cruise; that amount is not insurable.  
 

This actually happened to us through no fault of our own.  Our cruise was ended mid-cruise, and everyone got 75% of their cruise value in a cash refund. Since we had only paid for a portion of our cruise in cash, we received 75% of what we had actually paid, not 75% of our full cruise fare. 
 

People are going to have huge FCCs to apply to cruises when this is all over. Just remember, as Cheryl said, these amounts are not insurable because they have no cash value. 

[caribill]

3 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

This is an excellent and extremely important point. Please make sure you fully understand this before applying funds to future cruises, especially if you imagine that, for ANY reason, a normally covered one or any non-covered one, you might be cancelling this cruise. Even if the cruise is cancelled because of the cruise line’s fault, and everyone receives a refund of their cruise fare, if you paid for the cruise with an FCC, that portion is not going to be refunded to you. 

 

• Will I lose my FCC if I cancel my new booking? Or can I still use it on another booking in 2021?
  No, you will not lose your FCC. The FCC remains attached to your profile and standard policies apply.

•  

• What if there is an FCC on my current booking that is being cancelled. Will it be credited?
  Yes, it will be credited back. In this instance, the old FCC is separate from the cancellation fee. In the event the original FCC is expired, it will be reissued with a December 31, 2021 expiration date.

above from

https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/temporary-cancellation-policy.html

[npcl]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

There are a lot of small, locally owned, shops that may well fail if they lose the profit from even one cruise season. I don't care about DI but the local small business people worry me.

Not that many small business like their used to be.  Next time you are in town ask around and see how many of those business are owned by people that live in town or for that matter even that remain in town once the season ends.  10 years ago it would have been 80-90%.  These days maybe 30%.  Times have changed.  Local owners forced or bought out.  Stores staffed by people that come in for the summer. Look at how many jewelry stores exist.  

 

The shame is that in the old days many of the restaurants and stores actually stayed open in the winter and provides services for locals.  Now a large number close as soon as the season ends.

 

Have relatives in 2 of the ports.

Edited March 14, 2020 by npcl

[npcl]

13 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Yes, that is what would happen. For example, you apply an $8000 FCC to a $10000 cruise and purchase Princess Vacation Protection for that cruise. If you cancel for a covered medical reason, you file a claim and receive a $2000 refund (I’m speaking in generalities here, and disregarding things such as taxes and fees). If you cancel for a non-covered reason (CFAR), you receive either 75% (standard coverage) or 100% (platinum coverage) of $2000 back as an FCC. You didn’t pay cash for $8000 of the cruise; that amount is not insurable.  
 

This actually happened to us through no fault of our own.  Our cruise was ended mid-cruise, and everyone got 75% of their cruise value in a cash refund. Since we had only paid for a portion of our cruise in cash, we received 75% of what we had actually paid, not 75% of our full cruise fare. 
 

People are going to have huge FCCs to apply to cruises when this is all over. Just remember, as Cheryl said, these amounts are not insurable because they have no cash value. 

It also makes for an interesting problem, apply the FCC to a cruise to soon and you might hit another cancellation.  

[npcl]

error

Edited March 14, 2020 by npcl

[NorthwestCruiser]

12 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

One thing the US Govt could do is create temporary waivers of the PVSA to allow Alaska cruises to work from LA, SF and Seattle.

Unlikely to happen.   A fairly minor violation/interpretation issue of the Jones Act (some steel was bent in Germany) grounded a big fishing vessel built here in Anacortes for years, and I'm not sure that it has been completely resolved yet.    Cruise lines don't have a lot of leverage, the ships are mostly foreign flagged, foreign built, and and foreign staffed, they don't pay US taxes so the attitude will be "why should we help them when so many other industries are going to need help?"    

 

 Besides, have you been following the situation in Seattle?   Maybe it seems like a nothingburger if you aren't at ground zero so to speak, but we are pretty disrupted and will be for some time.

[Roger88]

Wow, now this is some sad news. I wonder what will they do with cargo ships. I mean they also got people on board and some of the people on board those ships use them to travel by sea. Lol you wont get an all inclusive lunch and swimming pool but you will be in the ocean and you will reach your desired destination 🙂 In any case, I hope it wont effect the cargo ships..cause I am doing business with it

[caribill]

1 hour ago, NorthwestCruiser said:

Unlikely to happen.   A fairly minor violation/interpretation issue of the Jones Act (some steel was bent in Germany) grounded a big fishing vessel built here in Anacortes for years, and I'm not sure that it has been completely resolved yet.    Cruise lines don't have a lot of leverage, the ships are mostly foreign flagged, foreign built, and and foreign staffed, they don't pay US taxes so the attitude will be "why should we help them when so many other industries are going to need help?"    

 

 Besides, have you been following the situation in Seattle?   Maybe it seems like a nothingburger if you aren't at ground zero so to speak, but we are pretty disrupted and will be for some time.

 

First of all, the Jones Act does not apply to cruise ships. The PVSA (Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886) does.

 

Cruise lines may not have much leverage, but the ports (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Alaska) do. Thousands of jobs in those cities depend on cruise ships that go to Alaska in the summer. The cities also benefit from taxes paid by passengers while they are in those cities.

 

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Roger88 said:

Wow, now this is some sad news. I wonder what will they do with cargo ships. I mean they also got people on board and some of the people on board those ships use them to travel by sea. Lol you wont get an all inclusive lunch and swimming pool but you will be in the ocean and you will reach your desired destination 🙂 In any case, I hope it wont effect the cargo ships..cause I am doing business with it

 

Since they never have more than 500 passengers, this would not apply to them. (Usually have less than 25.)

[CATGUY7]

15 hours ago, PoohUnderstands said:

Our Alaska cruise is July 12th.  We just squeezed in!  So far at least. I think things will have calmed down by then, but having to pay by April 13th is not so good.  Am hoping Princess extends their 60 day final payment policy or even makes it a 48 hr. cancellation for FCC thing.  Just hope things will settle down in a month.

 

Pooh

Ours leaves from Whittier July 8 ending in Vancouver.  We’ve got final payment coming up soon too.  I really don’t want to cancel, so I guess we’ll just hope for the best and continue on as though the ban will be lifted. 

Edited March 14, 2020 by CATGUY7
Spelling

[wrongwaywatson]

24 minutes ago, CATGUY7 said:

Ours leaves from Whittier July 8 ending in Vancouver.  We’ve got final payment coming up soon too.  I really don’t want to cancel, so I guess we’ll just hope for the best and continue on as though the ban will be lifted. 

We have the same cruise scheduled for May 30.   Haven't heard anything from Princess yet.  It may take a few days.

[lx200gps]

Although it probably won't mean much, there is a bit of hope. The original statement from the Transport Minister, Marc Garneau, in announcing the ban, stated:

 

“We will be reexamining the situation after the 30th of June, or in anticipation, if things have improved, and at that moment we'll make a decision about whether we can allow the cruise ship season to resume.”

 

Not well worded, but I interpret it to mean the July 1 date COULD possibly be advanced?

[Italy52]

8 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Yes, that is what would happen. For example, you apply an $8000 FCC to a $10000 cruise and purchase Princess Vacation Protection for that cruise. If you cancel for a covered medical reason, you file a claim and receive a $2000 refund (I’m speaking in generalities here, and disregarding things such as taxes and fees). If you cancel for a non-covered reason (CFAR), you receive either 75% (standard coverage) or 100% (platinum coverage) of $2000 back as an FCC. You didn’t pay cash for $8000 of the cruise; that amount is not insurable.  
 

This actually happened to us through no fault of our own.  Our cruise was ended mid-cruise, and everyone got 75% of their cruise value in a cash refund. Since we had only paid for a portion of our cruise in cash, we received 75% of what we had actually paid, not 75% of our full cruise fare. 
 

People are going to have huge FCCs to apply to cruises when this is all over. Just remember, as Cheryl said, these amounts are not insurable because they have no cash value. 

Thank you I appreciate the response.  Somehow it doesn't seem fair that if we are transferring our original funds (that were never used on a cruise) to a new cruise, that amount would not be covered 100%.  Your post references Princess Vacation Protection, we do not use that.  Rather, we use Travel Guard.  Do you happen to know if the same restrictions would apply to our insurance with Travel Guard?

[BigGuy25]

Since the US government is discouragIng cruise travel in general, it may not be inclined to overlook the “foreign port” rule to allow voyages to take place.

[PescadoAmarillo]

55 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

Thank you I appreciate the response.  Somehow it doesn't seem fair that if we are transferring our original funds (that were never used on a cruise) to a new cruise, that amount would not be covered 100%.  Your post references Princess Vacation Protection, we do not use that.  Rather, we use Travel Guard.  Do you happen to know if the same restrictions would apply to our insurance with Travel Guard?

No, sorry, I don’t. Perhaps Cheryl does and will respond. 

[npcl]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

First of all, the Jones Act does not apply to cruise ships. The PVSA (Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886) does.

 

Cruise lines may not have much leverage, but the ports (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Alaska) do. Thousands of jobs in those cities depend on cruise ships that go to Alaska in the summer. The cities also benefit from taxes paid by passengers while they are in those cities.

 

I suspect if Canada had not blocked the ships, Alaska probably would have. Very limited medical care in the small Alaska ports.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, BigGuy25 said:

Since the US government is discouraging cruise travel in general, it may not be inclined to overlook the “foreign port” rule to allow voyages to take place.

 

Yet in today's press conference about the virus, it was stated that they fully support the cruise industry.