Princess cruises this season

[Esilef]

We are booked on a Christmas cruise from Melbourne this year with princess and also the repositioning cruise in March 2021.

 

our travel agent can not advise of what princess is doing. Our gut feeling is that neither cruise will run. Let’s face it. The ships aren’t here.

 

has anyone cancelled with Princess? What are they doing with refunds of deposits? 
 

getting a bit sick of the whole “just wait” advice.

[Esilef]

We have moved our river cruise from this September to March next year (did this a while ago).
 

Travel marvel have been very good with their advice and support during this time. They are recommending to passengers to have a plan B so if the cruise you want doesn’t go ahead, then you know what other cruise you would be happy to move over to.

 

our plan C is the Europe river cruise at Christmas 2021. 
 

please don’t make me book plan d which is Budapest to Amsterdam for the tulip festival in March 2022......

[OzKiwiJJ]

The problem is that nobody knows, or can predict, what will happen with this blasted virus. 

 

I doubt the Christmas cruise will go ahead, and if the ships aren't here they won't be able to reposition so that cruise is also doubtful.

 

I cancelled a Princess cruise last month. However I had used an FCD as the deposit so that just went straight back on my Princess account. I'm not sure how quickly they are returning regular deposits these days.

[Esilef]

So I guess we can use the travel marvel advice and put the deposits into future cruise credits and start planning our plan B’s.......to Z’s

[By The Bay]

9 minutes ago, Esilef said:

So I guess we can use the travel marvel advice and put the deposits into future cruise credits and start planning our plan B’s.......to Z’s

That is the advice I would be following if you cannot get a full refund.

[getting older slowly]

Our TA advised us to Cancel our Nov 20 and Oct 20 cruises beginning of July...

 

Also it take the Refund for the Oct 30 and not to roll it over... the Nov 20 cruises was on FCC so no real problem.... also we were able to get full refund on our insurance as well

( time frame for refund our TA thought about 2 months )

 

So overall if you can get the money.. take it....   then plan for possibly the 21/22 season

 

Good Luck Don

 

[Russell21]

What I can't understand is that Princess have cancelled anything down here up to the end of October, yet they still want our group of 6 to pay the final payment in a couple of weeks for a cruise to NZ that leaves less than a week after end Oct on the 5th November. Luck has it that all the bookings are on FCC, so I'll cancel them all before payment is due if Princess hasn't done so in the mean time.

[Aus Traveller]

2 minutes ago, Russell21 said:

What I can't understand is that Princess have cancelled anything down here up to the end of October, yet they still want our group of 6 to pay the final payment in a couple of weeks for a cruise to NZ that leaves less than a week after end Oct on the 5th November. Luck has it that all the bookings are on FCC, so I'll cancel them all before payment is due if Princess hasn't done so in the mean time.

We are booked on the 23rd November Princess cruise to NZ, booked with a FCD. I don't think there is any chance that this cruise will go ahead, but we are waiting for Princess to cancel. However, we will not be paying the balance. If Princess hasn't cancelled before it is due to be paid, we will cancel at that time.

 

To the OP, I don't believe your Christmas cruise will happen, but maybe there is a very slim chance your cruise booked for next year will. I think it is better to wait for the cruiseline to cancel. Sometimes it means a better result for you financially, although Princess have been great in giving the same benefits to people who cancel first.

[Esilef]

4 minutes ago, Russell21 said:

What I can't understand is that Princess have cancelled anything down here up to the end of October, yet they still want our group of 6 to pay the final payment in a couple of weeks for a cruise to NZ that leaves less than a week after end Oct on the 5th November. Luck has it that all the bookings are on FCC, so I'll cancel them all before payment is due if Princess hasn't done so in the mean time.

this is exactly why I am asking as we have final payment due to our travel agent in a month and we are trying to work out what to do. We don’t want to pay the balance and then here that it’s cancelled and wait 6 months for a full refund nor do we want to loose our deposit.

[Esilef]

Thanks for all of your advice.

 

we just want to go cruising 

[OzKiwiJJ]

15 minutes ago, Russell21 said:

What I can't understand is that Princess have cancelled anything down here up to the end of October, yet they still want our group of 6 to pay the final payment in a couple of weeks for a cruise to NZ that leaves less than a week after end Oct on the 5th November. Luck has it that all the bookings are on FCC, so I'll cancel them all before payment is due if Princess hasn't done so in the mean time.

It was the same for me with the cruise we had booked for September. Final payment was July 21st so I cancelled. Princess announced the next lot of cancellations two days later. Nor problems wjth the deposit though as it was an FCD. Still, it was annoying that Princess didn't officially cancel until after the final payment date.

[christodan]

That's pretty rough. I have one booked with P & O in November and they are not asking for the balance until 30 days before it sails.

[Esilef]

The sapphire princess is currently in the waters off Singapore with the following ships:

costa atlantica

pacific explorer

aida prima

carnival splendor

carnival spirit 

crown princess

sun princess

sapphire princess 

pacific adventure 

ms noordam

diamond princess

mszulderdam

Quantum of the seas

voyager of the seas

ovation of the seas

[Aus Traveller]

4 minutes ago, Esilef said:

this is exactly why I am asking as we have final payment due to our travel agent in a month and we are trying to work out what to do. We don’t want to pay the balance and then here that it’s cancelled and wait 6 months for a full refund nor do we want to loose our deposit.

Princess has changed the terms for paying the balance - I just confirmed this by checking on line. It is now 60 days prior to the cruise not 90, but that does not mean that the TA won't ask you to pay under the old terms. (We had that happen earlier this year.) If the TA asks you to pay before mid October, then refer them to the Princess up-dated terms and conditions. If they don't want to go along with that, you can transfer your booking from them to Princess, meaning they won't get the commission. They will quickly change their tune.

 

Princess terms for cancellation: cancel up to 30 days before sailing date and you receive a FCC for cancellation fees and a refund of additional funds.I agree with your comment that you don't want to pay the balance then wait almost indefinitely for a refund or have to accept a FCC. 

 

 

[patch nine]

Our October cruise on the Majestic was cancelled about 2 weeks before the final payment was due.   However they seem to be cancelling cruises in blocks rather than individually so it will depend when the next "block" of cancellations is announced.

[By The Bay]

22 minutes ago, Russell21 said:

 so I'll cancel them all before payment is due if Princess hasn't done so in the mean time.

Very mean of them.😉

[By The Bay]

9 minutes ago, Esilef said:

The sapphire princess is currently in the waters off Singapore with the following ships:

costa atlantica

pacific explorer

aida prima

carnival splendor

carnival spirit 

crown princess

sun princess

sapphire princess 

pacific adventure 

ms noordam

diamond princess

mszulderdam

Quantum of the seas

voyager of the seas

ovation of the seas

Add Golden Princess to the list. I have been following her to see if she goes in for her proposed refit, prior to the transfer to P&O Straya.

[christodan]

7 minutes ago, By The Bay said:

Add Golden Princess to the list. I have been following her to see if she goes in for her proposed refit, prior to the transfer to P&O Straya.

 

That's the one I'm booked for in November.

[By The Bay]

Just now, christodan said:

 

That's the one I'm booked for in November.

I'm booked on her in October 21. The vaccine better arrive in the next 2 months for there to be any chance it will be available late 2021.🤞😷

[Chiliburn]

I doubt there will be a season 21-22 let alone this season.
Melbourne will probably be still in quarantine at Christmas.
 

 Don’t give them any large amount of money.

 

 

[By The Bay]

1 minute ago, Chiliburn said:

I doubt there will be a season 21-22 let alone this season.
Melbourne will probably be still in quarantine at Christmas.
 

 Don’t give them any large amount of money.

 

 

The longer it takes before a vaccine is widely available, the more your forecast will come true.  I used a FCC and will NOT be parting with the readies if cruising hasn't re-started. Not after waiting 4 months for my monies after our cancelled cruise in April.

[OzKiwiJJ]

There is a good chance a vaccine will be available late this year or early 2021. The government has signed a deal with the company that is handling the Oxford vaccine, which is reputed to be one of the best currently undergoing trials. The deal allows the virus to be manufactured in Australia. The government is saying that it will be free and as mandatory as possible ie only those who have medical reasons why they can't have it will be excused.

[By The Bay]

It is the logistics involved producing, distributing and administering the vaccine that will be an issue.  Talking points from a ABC article: "Experts say we'll need up to 15 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Distributing such large amounts at once is near impossible. Rushing a vaccine can deter public trust in medicine and encourage anti-vaxxer movements."

 

[Chiliburn]

23 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

There is a good chance a vaccine will be available late this year or early 2021. The government has signed a deal with the company that is handling the Oxford vaccine, which is reputed to be one of the best currently undergoing trials. The deal allows the virus to be manufactured in Australia. The government is saying that it will be free and as mandatory as possible ie only those who have medical reasons why they can't have it will be excused.

But we don’t have a vaccine YET and this one is in the 3rd and hardest stage of testing.

And it will probably take a couple of vaccines over years to get back to the life we knew.

Look at  the flu has multiple vaccines and it’s still kicking.

[OzKiwiJJ]

31 minutes ago, By The Bay said:

It is the logistics involved producing, distributing and administering the vaccine that will be an issue.  Talking points from a ABC article: "Experts say we'll need up to 15 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Distributing such large amounts at once is near impossible. Rushing a vaccine can deter public trust in medicine and encourage anti-vaxxer movements."

 

Why would Australia need 15 billion doses? 

 

I think the aim is to produce 25 million doses locally, and they would be rolled out to seniors and anyone else in the high risk category first.