Final payment due next week for Aug Med cruise - Pay or Cancel?

[pmd98052]

Thanks everyone for the feedback - seems quite overwhelming. If things clear up and we can go either we just rebook on the same cruise or use our airfares and do a land vacation near Barceloa, rent a car and drive around....

[Budget Queen]

3 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

Holland has 4 dead people on their ship right now ..... anyone who isn’t cancelling faster than a jackrabbit is crazy. Maybe not as crazy as those who are actually foolish enough to be booking new cruises on the forums right now as well. 

 

Sorry,   but there are dead people on many cruises.   This is the world cruise.   It's not surprising.   I was once on a sailing that had 6 dead.   People die.    There is no report of cause of death either.    

[Turtles06]

4 hours ago, Budget Queen said:

 

Sorry,   but there are dead people on many cruises.   This is the world cruise.   It's not surprising.   I was once on a sailing that had 6 dead.   People die.    There is no report of cause of death either.    

 

It's not HAL's world cruise.  It's the 2-week (now much longer) March 7 cruise of the Zaandam out of Buenos Aires.  The deaths occurred after Chile would not allow the ship to dock there on March 21.  Two people on board have tested positive for coronavirus.  Lots of facts out there, I won't repeat them here.  Easy to find the news with a Google search, or right here in the long thread in the CC HAL forum. 

[bmwman]

18 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

If you are concerned enough to post, then cancel for now. Minimize your financial exposure. If the cruise actually sails, then rebook last minute (hoping for a deal). 

Europe will not be open until late august IMHO - your advice is very sound. Assuming NCL survive. The longer this goes on I wonder het the whole industry will look like afterwards

[Waquoit]

14 hours ago, Budget Queen said:

 

Sorry,   but there are dead people on many cruises.   This is the world cruise.   It's not surprising.   I was once on a sailing that had 6 dead.   People die.    There is no report of cause of death either.    

 

Four people dying on a ship isn't right or normal.  

[pmd98052]

Called into the travel agent today (large retailer) and only had a 10-15 min wait on hold to get someone (their phone message says can be 3 hours!) got the cruise cancelled and the $200 desposit back as well.

 

We are eager to go so if things look better near the time for August out of Barcelona we will rebook without a doubt. If not we'll do a land vacation, rent a car, and drive around Spain instead.

[msmayor]

I have three staterooms booked on Escape for December - a holiday cruise.  Final payment isn't until August, but right now I'm 50-50 on going forward.  Thankfully time before final payment is due (and only $50pp invested in deposits) but the cruise industry will not be the same once sailing resumes.  

 

Maybe we'll invest the money on fare into a big house rental on the beach instead.

[pmd98052]

December (and August) are someway off - will likely know if NCL survives or not by August I would hope. As I mention above we will rebook if NCL is still around and Spain/Med has re-opened in late summer.

[Level six]

Good call on canceling.   Also, many airlines will give you credit or money back, so if you don't want to go at all, you can try that.  

[Fartlek]

The cruise industry was one of the first impacted and my guess will be the last one to be up and running.  My guess a vaccine is 18-24 months away and cruising will be another 6

 

cancel!

[TrumpyNor]

On 3/27/2020 at 10:50 AM, pmd98052 said:

So we are booked on a mid august Med cruise ($4k approx, paid $200 deposit) - Final payment is due on Tuesday. We've booked flights from London to Barcelona but could re-use that for a land trip. Thoughts on paying or cancelling? My largest concern is NCL isn't operating anymore come August given their cash flow.

 

We were in a similar situation - had a British Isles cruise booked for end of August/beginning of September with final payment in about 3 weeks. As I already have paid more than $4000 to NCL for a cruise in May that is not going to happen, and without being certain WHEN I will have my money back on my account - there was no way I wanted to risk paying another $3600 for the August cruise. So I actually chose to cancel the August cruise - and have already received my deposit back on my NCL account (paid with a CruiseNext voucher), and received a refund to my credit card account for what I had paid extra for a Speciality Dining Package for 2 persons, plus shore excursions for 2 persons. I just didn't want to risk having a total of $7600 on "hold" at NCL, without knowing when I would get it "back"...

I did however keep my flights that are booked in connection with that cruise, so if the world turns out to be a "better place" end of August and cruises are "happening" again - then I have the possibility to re-book, probably at a last-minute price.... 

[bonvoyagie]

While I hope we are back up and running by Aug I would not bet thousands of dollars on it and would cut my losses and cancel now.

[10XCruiser]

So if you cancel before final payment (balcony room), you will also get your deposit refunded?  I thought the deposit would be forfeited.  My final payment is in May for a September Canada/New England trip out of New York.

[Waquoit]

22 hours ago, 10XCruiser said:

 I thought the deposit would be forfeited. 

 

Seems a small price to pay. If that cruise goes (doubtful), I bet it's at least $100 cheaper than what you have it booked for.

[snownow]

As much as i hate to say it.. cancel. We canceled out July Med trip. Refund took about a week, so we got in before the delay in refund or that topic is over blown... Sad thing is flights there are now 1/2 price.