I had not even thought of these reasons when we cancelled this summer's cruise

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, Roger88 said:

I would add to this saying that you made a VERY wise decision. Its not worth risking right now and its good that you didnt pay in advance. You will not have to go through all those horrible refund periods, talking to agents and company managers and etc. I am glad that you are at home and safe. Take care my friend 

Thank you. We do have a small amount of money tied up with a very small refundable deposit and some money paid for an excursion back to the airport stopping at Stonehenge (mostly paid with OBC). We did get our insurance money back which was actually more than is now being held by Princess.

[dsrdsrdsr]

On 5/3/2020 at 10:11 PM, ontheweb said:

So it would have been closed well before we cancelled (even if they did not know I was 70+, but DW was under 70). 

 

How close to our July date, do you think they would have informed me?

They would have informed you they were closed for your July date when it became true.  At present, they are open for July so they wouldn't bother telling you that they were closed for April and part of May.  

 

There is a limit to how much work the hotel can do for you.  All they could have told you in an email was that there is a worldwide problem with coronavirus and plans for July are uncertain.  Perhaps they assumed that you already knew that.

[ontheweb]

39 minutes ago, dsrdsrdsr said:

They would have informed you they were closed for your July date when it became true.  At present, they are open for July so they wouldn't bother telling you that they were closed for April and part of May.  

 

There is a limit to how much work the hotel can do for you.  All they could have told you in an email was that there is a worldwide problem with coronavirus and plans for July are uncertain.  Perhaps they assumed that you already knew that.

If we had not cancelled, our final payment to Princess would have been due well before July. Sending out a mass e-mail cannot be that hard, after all spammers do it all the time.

[FiftyOnePlus]

On 5/1/2020 at 3:18 AM, clo said:

We have a couple of English friends (not London) and they're only allowed to go to the grocery or to "essential" work. Good decision.

Hotels are open.
My daughter is a hotel manager, and is working with guests in the hotel.

The restaurants and bars inside the hotel are closed, but hotels themselves are open.
There are a lot of people working who need hotels, travellers who are going from one place to another.....key workers need hotels etc

 

[FiftyOnePlus]

On 5/2/2020 at 10:31 PM, jocap said:

The first call from the UK government in March was for over 70s and those with various ailments, to stay indoors, except for necessary shopping/medical needs- which meant us.

As my OH has a couple of medical problems, I went to the shop, but when the following week, everything shut down, we were advised that both of us should stay at home, because of our ages.

The local council has organised voluntary shoppers for us all, including repeat prescriptions,  although most of our shopping is delivered from a big supermarket.

Our last trip out was to lock the 2 churches we look after. 

We are allowed outside for exercise by walking or cycling once a day, and there have been checks by the police.

Nothing is open, apart from essential items, and it probably will stay like this for some time.

 

This is not really accurate, if you're from the UK.

The over 70s group can go out now and it is only recommended that people from the vulnerable group need to stay shielded. So those with specific illnesses, such as COPD and issues, such as some cancers and transplant recipients.

~Anyone who cannot work from home can go to work so long as the employer can do as much as possible to aid social distancing/hygiene. 
~People can go out to exercise, go shopping, help someone vulnerable, visiting people when cooling down after arguments, or collecting medications.
~Numerous shops are open. Supermarkets, DIY stores, Home Stores, Newspaper/Book Stores, Banks/Post Offices/Building Societies, Off Licenses, Food Markets, Individual stores that sell food (plus other things), Convenience stores, Take aways etc
~Schools are open for some pupils

Quite a lot of things are open and more things are opening next week.

Need to get back to some form of normality before we totally wreck our children's and grandchildren's futures.

 

[dsrdsrdsr]

9 hours ago, ontheweb said:

If we had not cancelled, our final payment to Princess would have been due well before July. Sending out a mass e-mail cannot be that hard, after all spammers do it all the time.

You are completely missing the point.  Your hotel is open as usual in July.  This is subject to change.

 

What could the email have said?  "There is a virus called coronavirus about in the world and it is causing disruption, and we don't know what will happen in July.".  Would that have been useful?  Most of their customers would already know that. 

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, FiftyOnePlus said:

Hotels are open.
My daughter is a hotel manager, and is working with guests in the hotel.

The restaurants and bars inside the hotel are closed, but hotels themselves are open.
There are a lot of people working who need hotels, travellers who are going from one place to another.....key workers need hotels etc

 

All I know is that I went to the website of the Sofitel Heathrow and it said that the hotel was closed indefinitely. To me that means it is closed, and also there is no guarantee that it will be open in late July.

[DarrenM]

On 5/1/2020 at 3:18 AM, clo said:

We have a couple of English friends (not London) and they're only allowed to go to the grocery or to "essential" work. Good decision.

This is rubbish. Sorry. We have a lockdown in name only. People going to beaches parks supermarkets big DIY stores out of towns etc.

 

Only need the pubs and restaurants open and it will almost be back to normal.

 

And hotels are all going to be open again second week in may.

[wowzz]

35 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

This is rubbish. Sorry. We have a lockdown in name only. People going to beaches parks supermarkets big DIY stores out of towns etc.

 

Only need the pubs and restaurants open and it will almost be back to normal.

 

And hotels are all going to be open again second week in may.

Bollocks

[DarrenM]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Bollocks

In what way?

 

I live near a beach. See it every day. B&Q is open and busy. Parks are busy.  And hotels will be open mid may.

 

Unless of course there is a second spike.

 

 

[wowzz]

Beaches are shut, parks are open,  but you cant sit down, the vast majority of hotels are shut, and will continue  to remain shut, because no one is allowed to travel. You can't get a hair cut, libraries are shut, clothes shops are shut, furniture shops are shut, garages are shut, garden centres are shut, florists are shut, hospiral clinics are shut, doctor's surgeries are shut, dentists are shut, airports are virtually shut, you cant fly anywhere,  and  pubs and restaurants are shut. And buses and trains have virtually stopped running.

But, yes, if you want to buy paint, B&Q is open.

I'd say that was a lock down.

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, DarrenM said:

In what way?

 

I live near a beach. See it every day. B&Q is open and busy. Parks are busy.  And hotels will be open mid may.

 

Unless of course there is a second spike.

 

 

 

Are your restaurants open for take-out?  

 

Some around here have developed some pretty good SOP's for handling take out orders.  I was at one that carried the bags of food out to your car.  

 

[clo]

11 minutes ago, ldubs said:

Some around here have developed some pretty good SOP's for handling take out orders.  I was at one that carried the bags of food out to your car.  

 

That's gotten downright common here. Including cocktails. We got Mexican the other day. They passed the food out a window where the screen had been removed in a paper bag and then the 32oz (pitcher) of Margaritas in a plastic cup with smaller ones for drinking.

[Hlitner]

On 5/2/2020 at 5:31 PM, jocap said:

The first call from the UK government in March was for over 70s and those with various ailments, to stay indoors, except for necessary shopping/medical needs- which meant us.

As my OH has a couple of medical problems, I went to the shop, but when the following week, everything shut down, we were advised that both of us should stay at home, because of our ages.

The local council has organised voluntary shoppers for us all, including repeat prescriptions,  although most of our shopping is delivered from a big supermarket.

Our last trip out was to lock the 2 churches we look after. 

We are allowed outside for exercise by walking or cycling once a day, and there have been checks by the police.

Nothing is open, apart from essential items, and it probably will stay like this for some time.

 

Just wanted to add some thoughts.  Your country, and ours, have sacrificed many lives to win and maintain our freedom and many personal rights.   I now wonder if we have, too quickly, given up many of these freedoms/rights in the name of a virus.  Someday the virus will be gone or we will have the drugs to make it a non-issue.  But I cannot help but wonder if our freedoms will ever return.

 

Hank

[wowzz]

43 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Just wanted to add some thoughts.  Your country, and ours, have sacrificed many lives to win and maintain our freedom and many personal rights.   I now wonder if we have, too quickly, given up many of these freedoms/rights in the name of a virus.  Someday the virus will be gone or we will have the drugs to make it a non-issue.  But I cannot help but wonder if our freedoms will ever return.

 

Hank

Hank, totally agree with you. 

Whilst, obviously, certain measures needed to be taken, some of them, especially in the UK, have been overly draconian. And some members of the police, especially at the start, had a real power rush, stopping cars to investigate what people had been buying, stopping shops selling certain items that they considered not to be necessary, stopping people's children playing in their front garden etc.

The fear of the virus has been so drummed into people, that many have died because they were too frightened to go to hospital when they needed emergency treatment. And in years to come, many more deaths will occur, because over the last 8 weeks or so, people have not been getting cancer treatments, heart operations,  etc.

Every death is obviously tragic, but a more reasoned, less authoritarian approach may well have saved more lives in the long term.

[lenquixote66]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

Just wanted to add some thoughts.  Your country, and ours, have sacrificed many lives to win and maintain our freedom and many personal rights.   I now wonder if we have, too quickly, given up many of these freedoms/rights in the name of a virus.  Someday the virus will be gone or we will have the drugs to make it a non-issue.  But I cannot help but wonder if our freedoms will ever return.

 

Hank

Hopefully it will be gone and not re-surface.

Edited May 7, 2020 by lenquixote66

[ontheweb]

OP returning to say as of I believe yesterday, Princess had cancelled the cruise we cancelled. It was done after the original but before the new final payment date.

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Just wanted to add some thoughts.  Your country, and ours, have sacrificed many lives to win and maintain our freedom and many personal rights.   I now wonder if we have, too quickly, given up many of these freedoms/rights in the name of a virus.  Someday the virus will be gone or we will have the drugs to make it a non-issue.  But I cannot help but wonder if our freedoms will ever return.

 

Hank

 

I think many of us share that concern.  I do hear that some local gov'ts and even law enforcement agencies are pushing back on state mandated lock down rules.  

[ldubs]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

OP returning to say as of I believe yesterday, Princess had cancelled the cruise we cancelled. It was done after the original but before the new final payment date.

 

Thanks for the update.  Even though Princess eventually cancelled, I still think you made an excellent decision when you did. 

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, ldubs said:

 

Thanks for the update.  Even though Princess eventually cancelled, I still think you made an excellent decision when you did. 

Thank you. We did already get our insurance money back which was actually more than the deposit. And we have much less being held by Princess than if we had paid off the cruise. Our TA said when I confirmed that the final payment date had moved up a month that even though they had a new date, they were charging a $100 penalty if you missed the original date.

[ldubs]

24 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Thank you. We did already get our insurance money back which was actually more than the deposit. And we have much less being held by Princess than if we had paid off the cruise. Our TA said when I confirmed that the final payment date had moved up a month that even though they had a new date, they were charging a $100 penalty if you missed the original date.

 

The whole thing is a royal mess.  I am glad I'm not in the cruise business right now.  Too many unknowns.  How do they even come close to properly communicating with a customer base when absolutely everything is up in the air.   Like running a business on a dice roll.