Final payment date delaying?

[osandomir]

Currently Oceania suspending all their operations. I’d like to ask if someone with a final payment coming soon for the grand voyages late summer or fall departures have their final payment date delayed. We’re not looking to canceling our September cruise but would love to have a little bit more time to decide.

[clo]

22 minutes ago, osandomir said:

Currently Oceania suspending all their operations.

All I'm seeing is short term. Could you please provide a link? TIA.

[osandomir]

I said “currently suspending” and I’m talking about the future cruises that are scheduled to sail.

[clo]

33 minutes ago, clo said:

56 minutes ago, osandomir said:

Currently Oceania suspending all their operations.

 

Operative word is "ALL."  That's why I asked the question. We're due to sail in September and can cancel up to 48 hours before. 

[bbwex]

It would be a good idea to delay the due dates for final payments for any cruises.  NCL did it, but Oceania and Regent have not done so and are just offering cruise credits once you pay.  It is not as if there will not be any spaces on future cruises!  Our final payment is due the end of May for a late October cruise.  I have a feeling that we won't know enough to be sure of anything by the end of May, and we are more likely to cancel when the time comes.

[Hawaiidan]

54 minutes ago, bbwex said:

It would be a good idea to delay the due dates for final payments for any cruises.  NCL did it, but Oceania and Regent have not done so and are just offering cruise credits once you pay.  It is not as if there will not be any spaces on future cruises!  Our final payment is due the end of May for a late October cruise.  I have a feeling that we won't know enough to be sure of anything by the end of May, and we are more likely to cancel when the time comes.

I have the same situation.....but am comfortable that my Late Sept/ October cruise will go.   The US has learned from other nations inaction and  is  well ahead of the curve.....  Have faith and heed all the current restrictions.

[bbwex]

9 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

I have the same situation.....but am comfortable that my Late Sept/ October cruise will go.   The US has learned from other nations inaction and  is  well ahead of the curve.....  Have faith and heed all the current restrictions.

Whether we are ahead of the curve or not is not a discussion for this board.  However there are other considerations that might not be clear, i.e. getting into the other countries that we hope to visit, what will the economic picture look like in various countries after every country's economy has all but come to a dead stop in the near term, etc. 

[RJB]

14 hours ago, clo said:

Operative word is "ALL."  That's why I asked the question. We're due to sail in September and can cancel up to 48 hours before. 

48 hours will get you a future cruise credit, not cash refund.  I only want to be able to get a full cash refund if we do not go at the beginning of Oct.  They could extend the final pay date until 30 days or so before the ship sails.  By that time we should know if we can even go. 

[clo]

2 minutes ago, RJB said:

48 hours will get you a future cruise credit, not cash refund.  I only want to be able to get a full cash refund if we do not go at the beginning of Oct.  They could extend the final pay date until 30 days or so before the ship sails.  By that time we should know if we can even go. 

That's true. I'm not AS interested in a refund (though woudn't turn it down!) because the itinerary - Baltic and Scandinavian - is really interesting to us so wouldn't care if we had to wait a year. I just don't see our becoming avid cruisers - even before this.

[RJB]

5 minutes ago, clo said:

That's true. I'm not AS interested in a refund (though woudn't turn it down!) because the itinerary - Baltic and Scandinavian - is really interesting to us so wouldn't care if we had to wait a year. I just don't see our becoming avid cruisers - even before this.

Great itinerary. Have done it twice in the last 6 or 8 years.  But why would want them to hold your money for a year?  Anything can happen including a shut down of Oceania or even their parent company.

[clo]

1 minute ago, RJB said:

Great itinerary. Have done it twice in the last 6 or 8 years.  But why would want them to hold your money for a year?  Anything can happen including a shut down of Oceania or even their parent company.

Oh, I definitely agree. But don't see that I'll have any clout (I hate that!). I believe I've read that if an airline or cruiseline or such goes out of business, then we file a claim with our credit card company. That we bought a product that we didn't receive. Has this been discussed?

[Hawaiidan]

17 minutes ago, clo said:

Oh, I definitely agree. But don't see that I'll have any clout (I hate that!). I believe I've read that if an airline or cruiseline or such goes out of business, then we file a claim with our credit card company. That we bought a product that we didn't receive. Has this been discussed?

yes

[katz]

Our August 22, 2020 cruise's final payment was due yesterday. Not a Grand Voyage.  It's a 22-day cruise.  We asked our TA to contact O and ask if it would be possible to push back the date.  We were hoping for maybe a month.  Their answer was a plain and simple NO.   Not sure if a month will make any difference right now.   We decided not tie up a large amount of money  at this uncertain time, so we cancelled.   If things get better, we might reschedule.  

16 hours ago, osandomir said:

Currently Oceania suspending all their operations. I’d like to ask if someone with a final payment coming soon for the grand voyages late summer or fall departures have their final payment date delayed. We’re not looking to canceling our September cruise but would love to have a little bit more time to decide.

 

[RJB]

6 minutes ago, katz said:

Our August 22, 2020 cruise's final payment was due yesterday. Not a Grand Voyage.  It's a 22-day cruise.  We asked our TA to contact O and ask if it would be possible to push back the date.  We were hoping for maybe a month.  Their answer was a plain and simple NO.   Not sure if a month will make any difference right now.   We decided not tie up a large amount of money  at this uncertain time, so we cancelled.   If things get better, we might reschedule.  

 

Pretty easy solution.. CANCEL.   Right now I do not think that O is in the drivers seat.  If enough of us do not make the final payment O will sail with some pretty empty ships.  Can always reschedule.

[Paulchili]

59 minutes ago, katz said:

Our August 22, 2020 cruise's final payment was due yesterday. Not a Grand Voyage.  It's a 22-day cruise.  We asked our TA to contact O and ask if it would be possible to push back the date.  We were hoping for maybe a month.  Their answer was a plain and simple NO.   Not sure if a month will make any difference right now.   We decided not tie up a large amount of money  at this uncertain time, so we cancelled.   If things get better, we might reschedule.  

 

A surprised response from a company that is not in a good place to turn down customers at the moment.

They do need to be a little more flexible during this crisis.

[osandomir]

Thank you all for your responses. It’ll be helpful if Oceania delay the final payment dates for upcoming fall cruises. We’ll have more time and maybe confidence and they will be dealing with less cancellations right now. Our cruise is 28 days and the final payment is due in four weeks. We’ll see...

[SECfam]

Almost the same experience as katz. We were also hoping to delay final payment for even a couple of weeks on our June cruise. Final payment was due today. Oceania wouldn't give an inch so we canceled. No regrets as we did not want to tie up so much money with the current uncertainty.

[zumbarho]

Our cruise is July 6th. We have until April 6th to make our next deposit of 25% or cancel and lose a portion of the initial deposit. The more we wait, the more money we will lose. I'd be perfectly willing to roll over my entire initial deposit for a FCC but not thousands and thousands of dollars for an unknown.   

[schmerl]

27 minutes ago, zumbarho said:

Our cruise is July 6th. We have until April 6th to make our next deposit of 25% or cancel and lose a portion of the initial deposit. The more we wait, the more money we will lose. I'd be perfectly willing to roll over my entire initial deposit for a FCC but not thousands and thousands of dollars for an unknown.   

 

We are in the same situation. We also are booked on a July 6 cruise. I wish I had a crystal ball. I don't want to pay in full and then worry until July. On the other hand, I hate to cancel and then have everything be fine by July. 

I know they are offering the Traveler's Assurance that will give a "voucher" to be used later and you can cancel as late as 48 hours before your cruise. 

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, zumbarho said:

Our cruise is July 6th. We have until April 6th to make our next deposit of 25% or cancel and lose a portion of the initial deposit. The more we wait, the more money we will lose. I'd be perfectly willing to roll over my entire initial deposit for a FCC but not thousands and thousands of dollars for an unknown.   

I am confused

I am not up to date on the latest payment/cancellation schedules but

If you are 90 days out  (April 1st) would you not have to the full balance owing ??

 

How much of the deposit would you lose  if you cancel now?

 

[zumbarho]

We would lose $250pp (out of a total $1500 from Oceania) plus an agency fee.

[cruisingaussies]

4 hours ago, zumbarho said:

Our cruise is July 6th. We have until April 6th to make our next deposit of 25% or cancel and lose a portion of the initial deposit. The more we wait, the more money we will lose. I'd be perfectly willing to roll over my entire initial deposit for a FCC but not thousands and thousands of dollars for an unknown.   

Are you paying for the cruise in increments?  So you paid an initial deposit, then you're paying a further 25% by April 6th?  When will your final balance amount be due?  Sorry, I'm a bit confused as we paid a deposit of AU$1000 p/p, then we pay the final balance, in one amount.  Maybe I've misinterpreted your message?

It would be a good thing if Oceania pushed back all final balance payments until 30 days prior to departure, we can all live in hope.

[LHT28]

10 hours ago, zumbarho said:

We would lose $250pp (out of a total $1500 from Oceania) .

You only lose it if you do not book another cruise  in the time frame allowed

It has been that way for a few years now  it is the Admin fee  but you can use it  on a future cruise. 

 

as per Oceania

+The Administrative Fee may be converted to a future cruise credit redeemable on bookings made up to 12 months after cancellation date and for travel within two years of issue. 

https://oceaniacruises.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005306234-What-is-your-cancellation-and-refund-policy-

[Shawnino]

I'm pretty sure we are on the same cruise as OP and Dan.

We booked it as 28 days Stockholm--BCN but it is splittable as 14/14 with AMS in the middle.

One of the more frustrating things to us is that because we are booked as a Grand Voyage, our final payment date is much earlier than if we booked two separate cruises. Family who were going to join us on one leg don't make final payment til June; our agency wants our payment April 11.

 

We are hoping for the best, but are poised to cancel. 

Things should be OK by early September according to the Science, but I'm pretty sure that as a matter of Public Policy the ramp-up to normalcy will be slow and err or the side of caution. Furthermore, getting various national governments and supra-national governments (such as the EU) to co-ordinate policy is going to be like herding wet cats.

[Jay23]

Significantly there will be no vaccination by September or any time this year.

We have a Med cruise booked for 9th August.  We pay the final amount in May.  We don't expect to be going.  Our flights are booked separately.   We have no idea at the moment how this will pan out financially for us.