Predict when cruising will start again post-Coronavirus

[MMDown Under]

On 10/18/2020 at 5:19 AM, Kiwi Kruzer said:

That would be a nice outcome in a perfect world .

However with the ships getting bigger and bigger the cruise lines would need to draw on the entire Australian market to be able to run an assured schedule .

You won’t see regular cruising until all borders are back to what we knew before .

I can see a market for Aussies and Kiwis only once local cruising is allowed.  It won't be as profitable as in the past, but it will keep cruisers loyal to cruising until a vaccine is discovered. 

The threat to cruising is that passengers will discover other way to travel.  

We used to take annual holiday on islands in the Great Barrier Reef, as well as Hinterland Resorts, which were both all inclusive.  

[getting older slowly]

2 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

 

The threat to cruising is that passengers will discover other way to travel.  

 

 

I tend to agree.... some of cruisers go to cruise, others go because is it easy....

 

and once people change habits... they might not go back... sort of like moving on...

 

We cruise to go cruising... it's the ship then ports..... but if product changes too much or price increases a lot.... then cruising... become been there done that......  what is next...

 

Don

[MicCanberra]

I cannot see mass market lines being able to sail in Aussie waters for another year yet.

[MMDown Under]

5 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I cannot see mass market lines being able to sail in Aussie waters for another year yet.

Do you think there might be room for a small foreign adventure cruise ship to sail within Aust./NZ waters like the Russian ship about to recommence cruising from NZ?

I know we already have the Australian cruise out of Cairns which has commenced cruising on the Great Barrier Reef.  

 

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, getting older slowly said:

 

I tend to agree.... some of cruisers go to cruise, others go because is it easy....

 

and once people change habits... they might not go back... sort of like moving on...

 

We cruise to go cruising... it's the ship then ports..... but if product changes too much or price increases a lot.... then cruising... become been there done that......  what is next...

 

Don

Whilst we didn't go back to regularly holidaying on Great Barrier Reef Islands, we did go back to holidays at Binna Burra, in the Gold Coast hinterland, before it burnt down in the bushfires.

[MicCanberra]

47 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Do you think there might be room for a small foreign adventure cruise ship to sail within Aust./NZ waters like the Russian ship about to recommence cruising from NZ?

I know we already have the Australian cruise out of Cairns which has commenced cruising on the Great Barrier Reef.  

 

I don't think this Government want any boats coming from international waters.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

Do you think there might be room for a small foreign adventure cruise ship to sail within Aust./NZ waters like the Russian ship about to recommence cruising from NZ?

I know we already have the Australian cruise out of Cairns which has commenced cruising on the Great Barrier Reef.  

 

Not while this is still happening 

 

Ship bound for Brisbane most likely source of Covid transmission - Ashley Bloomfield

 

 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428663/ship-bound-for-brisbane-most-likely-source-of-covid-transmission-ashley-bloomfield

[Bowm54]

I have today cancelled a South America/Antarctica cruise due to depart Buenos Aires on December 18th.  

I fully expected Princess to have cancelled before todays final payment is due and the fact they want payment for a service they cannot provide speaks volumes about their corporate culture. The customer service agent today tried to convince me the cruise could still go ahead!

 

I have also taken the opportunity to cancel a 2022 Princess cruise. 

 

 

[Aus Traveller]

5 minutes ago, Bowm54 said:

I have today cancelled a South America/Antarctica cruise due to depart Buenos Aires on December 18th.  

I fully expected Princess to have cancelled before todays final payment is due and the fact they want payment for a service they cannot provide speaks volumes about their corporate culture. The customer service agent today tried to convince me the cruise could still go ahead!

 

I have also taken the opportunity to cancel a 2022 Princess cruise. 

 

 

Under what terms did you cancel? Do you lose your deposit or is Princess coming to the party with a future cruise credit?

[Bowm54]

Just now, Aus Traveller said:

Under what terms did you cancel? Do you lose your deposit or is Princess coming to the party with a future cruise credit?

Full refund back to credit card. After today would be future cruise credit.

[Aus Traveller]

9 minutes ago, Bowm54 said:

Full refund back to credit card. After today would be future cruise credit.

Princess have been very fair to give you a full refund at this late stage. Your cruise is in two months' time. Under their normal T&C, cancellations of a cruise (6 to 29 nights) made less between 43 and 74 days before the cruise, the passenger would lose  25% of the total cost. I feel it speaks a lot to their corporate culture that they are currently being very lenient with cancellations because of COVID.

[OzKiwiJJ]

20 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Princess have been very fair to give you a full refund at this late stage. Your cruise is in two months' time. Under their normal T&C, cancellations of a cruise (6 to 29 nights) made less between 43 and 74 days before the cruise, the passenger would lose  25% of the total cost. I feel it speaks a lot to their corporate culture that they are currently being very lenient with cancellations because of COVID.

Under their current policy the cancellation fee is actually refunded as FCC so you don't actually lose anything unless you decide never to cruise with Princess again.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Bowm54's cruise, and a whole bunch of other cruises in that region, get cancelled in the next day or so. A similar thing happened to me with the Sapphire Round Australia cruise I should have been enjoying right now. I cancelled on the final payment date AU time. That cruise and quite a few others were cancelled two days later. 

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

Not while this is still happening 

Ship bound for Brisbane most likely source of Covid transmission - Ashley Bloomfield

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428663/ship-bound-for-brisbane-most-likely-source-of-covid-transmission-ashley-bloomfield

Thanks  Interesting how they traced how the NZ person got infected. 

WA and Old have each had a number of positive crew members from cargo ships. 

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Under their current policy the cancellation fee is actually refunded as FCC so you don't actually lose anything unless you decide never to cruise with Princess again.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Bowm54's cruise, and a whole bunch of other cruises in that region, get cancelled in the next day or so. A similar thing happened to me with the Sapphire Round Australia cruise I should have been enjoying right now. I cancelled on the final payment date AU time. That cruise and quite a few others were cancelled two days later. 

I agree with your comment that the 18th December South America/Antarctic Peninsula cruise is likely to be cancelled. The poster I responded to (Bowm54) was critical of Princess because they haven't cancelled the cruise already. I made my comment to point out that Princess is being very reasonable in the way they are treating refunds for cancellations.

 

If I was in his position, I would have cancelled also rather than make the final payment and I would be super delighted to get a full refund.

 

As for the call centre operator - they can only give the information that has been supplied to the company. They should not give their personal opinion that the cruise is likely to be cancelled before the company pulls the plug on it.

[Bowm54]

2 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I agree with your comment that the 18th December South America/Antarctic Peninsula cruise is likely to be cancelled. The poster I responded to (Bowm54) was critical of Princess because they haven't cancelled the cruise already. I made my comment to point out that Princess is being very reasonable in the way they are treating refunds for cancellations.

 

If I was in his position, I would have cancelled also rather than make the final payment and I would be super delighted to get a full refund.

 

As for the call centre operator - they can only give the information that has been supplied to the company. They should not give their personal opinion that the cruise is likely to be cancelled before the company pulls the plug on it.

You are correct of course, I should never be critical of Princess!

[Aus Traveller]

2 minutes ago, Bowm54 said:

You are correct of course, I should never be critical of Princess!

Criticism is fine, when it is warranted. 🙂

 

I feel they can be criticized for not cancelling this cruise (and some others) before the final payment date if they know that the 18th December cruise will not go ahead. However, that is the point - whether or not they know at this time that the cruise will have to be cancelled.

[OzKiwiJJ]

5 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Criticism is fine, when it is warranted. 🙂

 

I feel they can be criticized for not cancelling this cruise (and some others) before the final payment date if they know that the 18th December cruise will not go ahead. However, that is the point - whether or not they know at this time that the cruise will have to be cancelled.

The final payment dates never mention the time zone that applies to the payment, it's still the 18th in the US.😉

Edited October 19, 2020 by OzKiwiJJ

[Bowm54]

3 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Criticism is fine, when it is warranted. 🙂

 

I feel they can be criticized for not cancelling this cruise (and some others) before the final payment date if they know that the 18th December cruise will not go ahead. However, that is the point - whether or not they know at this time that the cruise will have to be cancelled.

You are still correct as before.
 

[MMDown Under]

Woohoo I just found coverage of a Baltic cruise with Viking on SBS (2.10 in Old).  The owners suite has to be seen to be believed. The presenter said it was bigger than her house!

Edited October 19, 2020 by MMDown Under

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, Bowm54 said:

I have today cancelled a South America/Antarctica cruise due to depart Buenos Aires on December 18th.  

I fully expected Princess to have cancelled before todays final payment is due and the fact they want payment for a service they cannot provide speaks volumes about their corporate culture. The customer service agent today tried to convince me the cruise could still go ahead!

 

I have also taken the opportunity to cancel a 2022 Princess cruise. 

 

 

Was that on Coral Princess? It is not moral to still demand payment in such circumstances, they want the dollars in so they can pay the refunds out. Today I checked cruises on Princess with a couple of Aussie online cruise T/A's they are are offering no deposit cruises, must be desperate.

Edited October 19, 2020 by NSWP

[NSWP]

2 hours ago, Bowm54 said:

Full refund back to credit card. After today would be future cruise credit.

And therein lies the answer, if you want real money back you have to do it before final payment. Future Cruise Credit is not the be all and end all.  Some folk might not want to cruise again, whether with Princess or anybody else.

 

NB I just checked on Princess site, the cruise is still being sold, Coral Princess, 18 December, 2020.

Edited October 19, 2020 by NSWP

[Bowm54]

15 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Was that on Coral Princess? It is not moral to still demand payment in such circumstances, they want the dollars in so they can pay the refunds out. Today I checked cruises on Princess with a couple of Aussie online cruise T/A's they are are offering no deposit cruises, must be desperate.

They are selling 29 cruises departing in December including Sapphire departing Melbourne on the 20th.

 

[NSWP]

6 minutes ago, Bowm54 said:

They are selling 29 cruises departing in December including Sapphire departing Melbourne on the 20th.

 

Yep, they want that money to roll in to prop up Carnival Corporation and keep its shareholder happy. All wrong. Time for another Channel 7 doco on the mysteries of cruise cancellations and refunds specifically.

Edited October 19, 2020 by NSWP

[Bowm54]

12 minutes ago, NSWP said:

And therein lies the answer, if you want real money back you have to do it before final payment. Future Cruise Credit is not the be all and end all.  Some folk might not want to cruise again, whether with Princess or anybody else.

Yes, including a new retiree and whilst not having a gold nest egg it is definitely a bright brass!
To be spent elsewhere.

[NSWP]

1 minute ago, Bowm54 said:

Yes, including a new retiree and whilst not having a gold nest egg it is definitely a bright brass!
To be spent elsewhere.

Indeed plenty of ways to spend money other than cruising. I have had 5 mini road trips around NSW since June, as soon as Qld and Vic open up I will be motoring north and south.