Advance notice of cancellation

[cruisegrandma3]

How much of a notice would we be given if our cruise is cancelled?  Any ideas?

 

[linz98144]

No idea, but all the Aug and Sept cruises were cancelled about a month ago. 

 

[TexasBrit]

I have a cruise scheduled for October, with final payment due very soon. So far I have only paid the reduced deposits.

 

We are not intending to go on the cruise anyway, even if it sails. I would like to get my deposits back.

If Carnival cancels, I would expect to get them refunded.

But what happens if I cancel or just don't make the final payment on time?

Will I forfeit the deposits even if they eventually cancel the cruise a little later?
or can I claim them back if they cancel it?

I think that if I paid the balance and then they cancel, I would get it all back, but I don't want to

pay out any more money as I am still waiting for a refund from a canceled April cruise.

 

It seems they are waiting to get all the payments in before announcing any cancellations.

 

Thanks

[Pyrate13]

If it was a non refundable, such as early saver, and you cancel, then you will lose the deposit. If Carnival cancels you should get it back since they are not providing the cruise you paid the deposit on.

[TexasBrit]

19 minutes ago, Pyrate13 said:

If it was a non refundable, such as early saver, and you cancel, then you will lose the deposit. If Carnival cancels you should get it back since they are not providing the cruise you paid the deposit on.

Would this still apply if they eventually cancel it after the final payment date?

Seems like they want people to cancel before they announce cancellation so that they can keep the deposits.

What happens if I don't cancel but just don't send in the final payment?

[sanger727]

9 minutes ago, TexasBrit said:

Would this still apply if they eventually cancel it after the final payment date?

Seems like they want people to cancel before they announce cancellation so that they can keep the deposits.

What happens if I don't cancel but just don't send in the final payment?

 

Yes, you are correct; they want people to go into final payment limbo where they either lose their deposits by cancelling or pay their final payment and carnival gets extra money for 90 days. I don't know if anyone has posted in this exact situation. But it appears that most of the cruise lines are holding tight to cancellation penalties. If you cancel before them according to whatever cancellation penalties are in effect at the time - when they cancel you no longer had a reservation and are not entitled to any refund. I believe the not making final payment in time would be, in effect, a cancellation and forfeiting your deposit. You could call and see if they would extend your final payment date.

Edited July 10, 2020 by sanger727

[TexasBrit]

2 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

Yes, you are correct; they want people to go into final payment limbo where they either lose their deposits by cancelling or pay their final payment and carnival gets extra money for 90 days. I don't know if anyone has posted in this exact situation. But it appears that most of the cruise lines are holding tight to cancellation penalties. If you cancel before them according to whatever cancellation penalties are in effect at the time - when they cancel you no longer had a reservation and are not entitled to any refund. I believe the not making final payment in time would be, in effect, a cancellation and forfeiting your deposit. You could call and see if they would extend your final payment date.

Thank you. My April cruise allowed the forfeited money to go to FCC at least. Not sure if Carnival will do this also. It does seem like a scam when they probably know fine well they are not going to sail in October. This is certainly not acting in good faith. If any other company behaved like this, they would lose a lot of customers and business very quickly. This may be the case with the cruise lines.

[MistyRo76]

50 minutes ago, TexasBrit said:

I have a cruise scheduled for October, with final payment due very soon. So far I have only paid the reduced deposits.

 

We are not intending to go on the cruise anyway, even if it sails. I would like to get my deposits back.

If Carnival cancels, I would expect to get them refunded.

But what happens if I cancel or just don't make the final payment on time?

Will I forfeit the deposits even if they eventually cancel the cruise a little later?
or can I claim them back if they cancel it?

I think that if I paid the balance and then they cancel, I would get it all back, but I don't want to

pay out any more money as I am still waiting for a refund from a canceled April cruise.

 

It seems they are waiting to get all the payments in before announcing any cancellations.

 

Thanks

I spoke to my PVP last week about our October 19th cruise. She recommended that we wait until our final payment date (August 20th) to see if Carnival cancels our sailing. Then we can take advantage of any rebooking incentives being offered at that time for the cancellation. She also told me that Carnival was allowing anyone booked on a cruise in October, November or December to rebook on another cruise within one year of their original sailing date at no penalty. So that is our plan. 

 

The last round of cancellations were made fairly well in advance so that many hadn't reached their final payment dates yet. I'm hoping that we hear something solid by the early to mid- August. 

[TexasBrit]

19 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

I spoke to my PVP last week about our October 19th cruise. She recommended that we wait until our final payment date (August 20th) to see if Carnival cancels our sailing. Then we can take advantage of any rebooking incentives being offered at that time for the cancellation. She also told me that Carnival was allowing anyone booked on a cruise in October, November or December to rebook on another cruise within one year of their original sailing date at no penalty. So that is our plan. 

 

The last round of cancellations were made fairly well in advance so that many hadn't reached their final payment dates yet. I'm hoping that we hear something solid by the early to mid- August. 

Thank you.

Your final payment date seems strange. Usually it is 90 days before sailing, which should be about July 20th.

I hadn't heard about the re-booking plan, I'll see if it applies to us also.

[MistyRo76]

Just now, TexasBrit said:

Thank you.

Your final payment date seems strange. Usually it is 90 days before sailing, which should be about July 20th.

I hadn't heard about the re-booking plan, I'll see if it applies to us also.

We are on a 4 day sailing - the shorter sailings have final payment dates that are closer to departure date. The Carnival FAQ's showed 75 days, but ours is 60 days out. 

 

Speaking of final payment dates, I have seen a couple comments on here about people who were able to get their final payment dates extended an extra month due to everything going on with COVID. So that might be an option to get you more time to decide what you want to do (or see if Carnival cancels your sailing). Not sure how consistent Carnival is being in allowing this, but wouldn't hurt to ask. 

[TexasBrit]

1 minute ago, MistyRo76 said:

We are on a 4 day sailing - the shorter sailings have final payment dates that are closer to departure date. The Carnival FAQ's showed 75 days, but ours is 60 days out. 

 

Speaking of final payment dates, I have seen a couple comments on here about people who were able to get their final payment dates extended an extra month due to everything going on with COVID. So that might be an option to get you more time to decide what you want to do (or see if Carnival cancels your sailing). Not sure how consistent Carnival is being in allowing this, but wouldn't hurt to ask. 

Thank you once again!

Very helpful, I will call Carnival today.

[TexasBrit]

4 hours ago, MistyRo76 said:

We are on a 4 day sailing - the shorter sailings have final payment dates that are closer to departure date. The Carnival FAQ's showed 75 days, but ours is 60 days out. 

 

Speaking of final payment dates, I have seen a couple comments on here about people who were able to get their final payment dates extended an extra month due to everything going on with COVID. So that might be an option to get you more time to decide what you want to do (or see if Carnival cancels your sailing). Not sure how consistent Carnival is being in allowing this, but wouldn't hurt to ask. 

I called Carnival and asked several questions.

The agent said that the cruise is still scheduled to sail.

I asked about extending the final payment date because of the uncertainty and not wanting to pay and then

have to wait for refunds. She initially said that it was not available right now. I pointed out that I had heard that some people had final payment dates extended by their PVP. I stated that I did not have a PVP because I had booked the cruise myself, so could I speak to a PVP please. She then said that the best she could do was extend final payment until July 31 but not a whole extra month. So I accepted this offer and it was done and confirmed by email.

So thank you for this information and suggestion to ask about it.

 

But the firm July 31 date also raised my suspicions that they are waiting until August to announce cancellations for October.

 

She did also say that the booking can be transferred to 2021 or 2022 for no change fee, which is not too bad.

 

But at least I have a bit more time to wait and see and think about what to do.

 

[Banditswife]

I hadn't heard they were extending final payments or about transferring it to a later cruise until I read this thread.  We are booked for Nov 1-15, a Journey cruise.  We had booked this cruise due to our canceled Mardi Gras.  I asked our travel agent about canceling now & she said we would lose our deposit.  We made the decision to make final payment, knowing the cruise probably will not sail.  We had a B2B booked in May & received full refunds rather quickly compared to what I have read on here.  So i figure we will get a full refund eventually if the ship doesn't sail.  But my gripe is... what about the discounts & OBC we received for our Mardi Gras cruise?  If we transfer the funds to a later cruise- we will pay a much higher fare.  Who knows how long this pandemic will last.  I will opt for a full refund if we cannot sail in Nov.  We will wait until everything is back to somewhat normal before we book anything else. 

[Honolulu Blue]

21 hours ago, cruisegrandma3 said:

How much of a notice would we be given if our cruise is cancelled?  Any ideas?

 

Most others here have given specific answers in regards to cancellations related to the permanent pandemic.  I prefer to give a more general answer.

 

The general answer is... it depends.

 

I've seen cancellations the day of a cruise, and I've seen cancellations over a year out.  The longer the notice given, the more compensation you'll be given - generally.  

[PhillyFan33579]

20 hours ago, MistyRo76 said:

I spoke to my PVP last week about our October 19th cruise. She recommended that we wait until our final payment date (August 20th) to see if Carnival cancels our sailing.

The current no sail order by the CDC ends July 24th, well before your final payment date. The CDC will definitely make a decision by then, which could range from extending the current no sail order to the unlikely decision to allow cruise ships to resume operations if the cruise line complies with guidance provided by the CDC. So you should have a lot more information available prior to your final payment date. 

[sgttami]

My May 24th cruise on Pride was cancelled April 13th.

 

I had booked it in March, right before all this started so it was paid in full.

 

I transferred the booking over to another Pride cruise for next April.  At best, I have a cruise that's paid for.  At worst, I'm not going anywhere...LOL  

 

[TinyG]

We had a previously cruise booked for Alaska on the Legend September 2019. We decided not to cruise to Alaska and transfer the booking in 2018 to the new Panorama for October 31, 2020 Mexico. Carnival at the time assed a $100.00 change fee to transfer the booking to the new cruise.

So our final payment is due August 17th.  The change fee was assed to the booking. What happens the that change fee now? I hope it would go away with the canceled booking. I would hope it would not come out of my deposit? Or does my $400.00 deposit can moved around or refunded?  

 

We really don’t want to go in October. I don’t think that the Panorama or other ships will be sailing in October, nor do we want to be the first ones back on. I would hope we would get back the $400.00, and my applied 25% milestone award that was allocated to the Panorama and would goes back for future use. My $342.00 milestone seems so little now, when they are offering $600 for transferring to a FCC.