March 25, 2020 Oceania Update

[Holiday 24/7]

3 hours ago, bbtondo said:

Back to Oceania's Update.  Nothing.  Carnival just canceled all cruises until May 11th.  Some of their cruises for later dates also. Full refund or fcc credit with shipboard OBC.  Your choice.

 

Oceania.  Hellllooo???  I feel like the last kid to be picked for a team.....

Holland America have now cancelled up to 14th May as well - posted on their facebook page

[susiesan]

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

That does not sound correct

They with hold the Admin fee amount if you cancel during the cancellation period depending on the length of the cruise

 You should have cancelled back in March when you started whining about it

My invoice says "penalties start Feb. 17". None of this was going on then. On Feb. 17 I was still planning on going on the cruise, arranging shore excursions. I had no intention of cancelling. On March 3 I got an email from the TA moving the final payment date to April 11. I was going to make the final payment then as long as the cruise was a go.

 

Why should Oceania be entitled to keep $500 when they will be the ones cancelling the cruise? This is not right. I don't think any other cruise line is doing this when the cruise is cancelled by the cruise line, no matter the time frame. This is a policy unique to Oceania from what I can tell. I have friends who were booked on a Princess Alaska cruise tour that has been cancelled and not only do they get a 100% refund with no admin fees deducted they get a bonus FCC if they transfer all the money to another cruise in the future. I think even NCL is doing this. Oceania is doing nothing other than anger their loyal customers.

Windstar lowered the amount of deposits for future cruises to $100 if you book another cruise with them now. Oceania is the lone cruise line who doesn't seem to care whether they lose customers or not.

[njhorseman]

Oceania has cancelled all cruises through May 10, as has its sister company NCL.  I haven't checked RSS but presumably the same for them.

[clo]

6 hours ago, susiesan said:

My Marina cruise had 2 days in SPB. It had 7 other ports not counting Copenhagen and Stockholm, the beginning and end. It was a great itinerary and will be run next Aug. 29, 2021. This is the sailing I'd like to transfer the deposit to as long as it doesn't cost me anything. $500 to do a few minutes of work on a computer? Ridiculous.

Interesting. Our now canceled Sept. cruise (Baltics and Scandinavian) had three days (two nights in SPB) on Marina.

[susiesan]

33 minutes ago, clo said:

Interesting. Our now canceled Sept. cruise (Baltics and Scandinavian) had three days (two nights in SPB) on Marina.

Did you preemptively cancel a September cruise? Why did you cancel already? Yours may actually be a go, the is 6 months from now.

[clo]

2 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Did you preemptively cancel a September cruise? Why did you cancel already? Yours may actually be a go, the is 6 months from now.

We actually canceled before we had to with no penalty - early May. But our retirement accounts have lost an enormous amount of money and the likelihood of that completely recovering by then are extremely slim. (Somebody mentioned here IIRC the possibility of the Dow getting down to 12K or so.) In '08 we did some serious cutting back and didn't travel for 18 months and came all the way back during that time. We're in our early 70s and our long term financial security is FAR more important than any trip. Senior/minor assisted living can already cost in the $100k/yr range. FWIW.

[njhorseman]

43 minutes ago, clo said:

We actually canceled before we had to with no penalty - early May. But our retirement accounts have lost an enormous amount of money and the likelihood of that completely recovering by then are extremely slim. (Somebody mentioned here IIRC the possibility of the Dow getting down to 12K or so.) In '08 we did some serious cutting back and didn't travel for 18 months and came all the way back during that time. We're in our early 70s and our long term financial security is FAR more important than any trip. Senior/minor assisted living can already cost in the $100k/yr range. FWIW.

We're in the same age group as you. Not only have our retirement accounts taken a hit that could have implications for the long term, but our immediate concern is that the RMDs (required minimum distribution) from our IRA accounts for 2020 are based on the value of the IRAs as of 12/31/2019, when the market was almost at its peak. That means we're going to have to make large withdrawals of the required amount from accounts with substantially diminished values as of today, further damaging our nest egg. Right now I plan to not make any withdrawals in the near future and wait until later hoping the market bounces back enough during the year to make the RMDs less devastating.

 

We use the IRAs to pay for luxuries like vacations. I can definitely say we're going to be cutting back our travel for the foreseeable future unless the market makes a miraculous comeback this year.

[schmerl]

2 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

We're in the same age group as you. Not only have our retirement accounts taken a hit that could have implications for the long term, but our immediate concern is that the RMDs (required minimum distribution) from our IRA accounts for 2020 are based on the value of the IRAs as of 12/31/2019, when the market was almost at its peak. That means we're going to have to make large withdrawals of the required amount from accounts with substantially diminished values as of today, further damaging our nest egg. Right now I plan to not make any withdrawals in the near future and wait until later hoping the market bounces back enough during the year to make the RMDs less devastating.

 

We use the IRAs to pay for luxuries like vacations. I can definitely say we're going to be cutting back our travel for the foreseeable future unless the market makes a miraculous comeback this year.

 

I have been saying the same thing about my RMD. December numbers were high and greatly increased the amount of my RMD. I did read something about the possibility of not having to take the RMD this year because of all of this. 

[yorkiemomjn]

Jan, I just now read about your granddaughter, I am so sorry.

Keeping her and your whole family in our prayers.  
 

 

[clo]

46 minutes ago, schmerl said:

I did read something about the possibility of not having to take the RMD this year because of all of this.

Just read this.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiehopkins/2020/03/30/cares-act-drastically-changes-required-minimum-distribution-rules-for-2020/#40ecf2ed19a0

 

We need some money but we have a non-IRA account which has no tax implication. We're going to look at this. Thanks a million.And I hope the mods will allow this OT. VERY good info

[cbb]

yes, please Mods.  Allow this discussion to continue as I just picked up useful info from Clo.  Thanks Clo.  I shall return the favor with sources I have found.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/24/congress-may-let-you-skip-mandatory-withdrawals-from-ira-and-401ks.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/30/coronavirus-stimulus-cares-act/

https://www.aarp.org/money/investing/info-2020/cares-act-retiree-tax-benefit.html

Edited March 31, 2020 by cbb

[schmerl]

12 hours ago, clo said:

Just read this.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiehopkins/2020/03/30/cares-act-drastically-changes-required-minimum-distribution-rules-for-2020/#40ecf2ed19a0

 

We need some money but we have a non-IRA account which has no tax implication. We're going to look at this. Thanks a million.And I hope the mods will allow this OT. VERY good info

 

You are welcome. That is what I had read. At first I wasn't clear as to whether we'd have to make up for it the following year, but it seems as though it is completely waived which is great news. 

[clo]

6 hours ago, schmerl said:

 

You are welcome. That is what I had read. At first I wasn't clear as to whether we'd have to make up for it the following year, but it seems as though it is completely waived which is great news. 

Because we have our MDR done through Fidelity we had to phone them to change it. Talked to the adviser we've been working with for several years and he confirmed this and that he sees no downside. Next year's MDR will be determined at the end of 2020. Okay return to regular programming?