Spirit of Adventure delayed again?

[nosapphire]

According to on on line German press report dated yesterday (23rd August) the Spirit of Adventure has been delayed again.

I have attached a link, but not sure if it will show in German or English (I was reading in Google translate).

I have no idea how accurate the information is.

The gist is that the Ems transfer that was intended for mid-August has not taken place, no date for the transfer has been set, and this is because Saga themselves have requested a delay - which in view of current FCO advice against cruise ship travel, would make sense.

It must be a total nightmare for all concerned, Cruise lines, agents, ship yards and suppliers.

https://www.kreuzfahrt-aktuelles.de/news/meyer-werft-spirit-of-adventure-verschoben-termin-noch-unbekannt/8522/

[LandC]

I’m not surprised that Adventure has been delayed again, as I can’t see cruises starting before Christmas.  I just wish that Saga would let their clients know what is going on!

 

 

 

[Glenndale]

50 minutes ago, LandC said:

I’m not surprised that Adventure has been delayed again, as I can’t see cruises starting before Christmas.  I just wish that Saga would let their clients know what is going on!

 

 

 

Unfortunately LandC, I think Saga and all cruise lines would also like to know what is going on.🙂

I’m sure they’re doing their best but unfortunately at best they will be reactive to changing circumstances.

Fingers crossed that we will be able to cruise again next year 🤞

We have a May cruise with Oceania booked, going around the British Isles and a Discovery cruise doing the East coast of North America.

Hopefully 2022 should be back to normal, very difficult times for the cruise lines.

 

[Alcairns]

We are booked on the inaugural cruise on 5th November (not sure I really want to go but if I cancel I lose the deposit!) I spoke to Saga on line today and there response was 

 

“Good afternoon, thank you for taking the time to contact us. Our Inaugural cruise is still due to go ahead as planned. We will of course be in touch if this changes.”

 

I expect/hope the cruise will be cancelled.

[nosapphire]

36 minutes ago, Alcairns said:

We are booked on the inaugural cruise on 5th November (not sure I really want to go but if I cancel I lose the deposit!) I spoke to Saga on line today and there response was 

 

“Good afternoon, thank you for taking the time to contact us. Our Inaugural cruise is still due to go ahead as planned. We will of course be in touch if this changes.”

 

I expect/hope the cruise will be cancelled.

😶Which is pretty much what they said when enquiring about the original inaugural (August).....

The telephone and live-chat staff are very restricted in what they are able to tell you, so it does put them in a difficult position when asked questions like this.

If you booked your cruise March or before AND you took out Saga's included insurance, then you may be covered under their enhanced cancellation policy for cruises departing between June and December 2020 (cancel without any cancellation penalty).

Although I also expect the cruise to be postponed again,  as it seems very unlikely that either FCO advice will change in time for Saga to make their final arrangements, or that Saga will be able to rely on ports being open to receiving cruise ships.

 

[saintgeorge]

Has anyone heard directly from Saga or Travel Agent regarding any changes ? 

There is nothing on the Website.

[Alcairns]

9 minutes ago, saintgeorge said:

Has anyone heard directly from Saga or Travel Agent regarding any changes ? 

There is nothing on the Website.

Yes see above

[nosapphire]

I very much doubt that Saga themselves are sure what is going to happen or not happen, same as other cruise lines they are making plans but cannot finalise anything.

The FCO advice is still not to cruise - but that may change (though I think unlikely this side of 2021).

The planned ports are still not open to cruise ships - that may change.

The German press indicate that the Ems transfer for the Adventure may take place end of August, which would still give time for the sea trials and handover to be able to run the inaugural cruise - IF the other difficulties are overcome.

There must be a cut-off date after which there is insufficient time for Saga to arrange to sail as planned, but until then the only update Saga could put on their website would be " We Don't Know!" - and that is really not their fault.

 

 

 

[saintgeorge]

Has Saga changed their Terms and Conditions regarding final payment date ?

[nosapphire]

German press are now reporting that the Ems transfer is taking place overnight today(30th - 31st August).

 

[LandC]

That’s good news.  I presume that the ship will now undertake  sea trials.  

[Alcairns]

Now docked at Emden. 

[Biker19]

She's out on sea trials.

[Jay23]

On 8/25/2020 at 1:40 PM, nosapphire said:

😶Which is pretty much what they said when enquiring about the original inaugural (August).....

The telephone and live-chat staff are very restricted in what they are able to tell you, so it does put them in a difficult position when asked questions like this.

If you booked your cruise March or before AND you took out Saga's included insurance, then you may be covered under their enhanced cancellation policy for cruises departing between June and December 2020 (cancel without any cancellation penalty).

Although I also expect the cruise to be postponed again,  as it seems very unlikely that either FCO advice will change in time for Saga to make their final arrangements, or that Saga will be able to rely on ports being open to receiving cruise ships.

 

This does not allow for return of Deposit does it?

[nosapphire]

1 hour ago, Jay23 said:

This does not allow for return of Deposit does it?

My reading is yes, it does.

The promise is, "No cancellation fees or charges".

Under the standard terms, loss of deposit is listed as the first tier of cancellation charges.

That is therefore a cancellation charge, and saying "No cancellation fees or charges" makes the deposit refundable.

As above, that is only if the included insurance was taken out at the time of booking, and the booking was made back in or before March - they sent letters out at the time.

 

[Jay23]

1 hour ago, nosapphire said:

My reading is yes, it does.

The promise is, "No cancellation fees or charges".

Under the standard terms, loss of deposit is listed as the first tier of cancellation charges.

That is therefore a cancellation charge, and saying "No cancellation fees or charges" makes the deposit refundable.

As above, that is only if the included insurance was taken out at the time of booking, and the booking was made back in or before March - they sent letters out at the time.

 

Thank you for the reply.    We do not have included insurance.   We are going to wait for the cruise on 16th December on Discovery to be cancelled.    Of course at the moment we don't have any insurance for cruising.  The idea of going on a ship is quite unacceptable; it would not be much of a holiday in our view.   We may have to loose our £400 deposit.  Arrrgh     J

[wowzz]

50 minutes ago, Jay23 said:

Thank you for the reply.    We do not have included insurance.   We are going to wait for the cruise on 16th December on Discovery to be cancelled.    Of course at the moment we don't have any insurance for cruising.  The idea of going on a ship is quite unacceptable; it would not be much of a holiday in our view.   We may have to loose our £400 deposit.  Arrrgh     J

Sorry, I don't understand.  If Saga cancel the cruise, surely they have to refund you the deposit? 

[nosapphire]

47 minutes ago, Jay23 said:

Thank you for the reply.    We do not have included insurance.   We are going to wait for the cruise on 16th December on Discovery to be cancelled.    Of course at the moment we don't have any insurance for cruising.  The idea of going on a ship is quite unacceptable; it would not be much of a holiday in our view.   We may have to loose our £400 deposit.  Arrrgh     J

If Saga cancel or defer it, they will refund the deposit.

They'll first offer you the option to rollover the booking, or take a future cruise credit, but if you say you want to cancel then the deposit will be refunded via whatever method used to pay it.

If they do NOT cancel, they will very probably allow you to rollover the deposit onto a later cruise.

But I still suspect that this year all will be cancelled or deferred.

 

 

[saintgeorge]

Final Payment Date

Has this changed to 60 days prior to departure or is it still 90 days for the Christmas cruise ??

[Jay23]

5 minutes ago, nosapphire said:

If Saga cancel or defer it, they will refund the deposit.

They'll first offer you the option to rollover the booking, or take a future cruise credit, but if you say you want to cancel then the deposit will be refunded via whatever method used to pay it.

If they do NOT cancel, they will very probably allow you to rollover the deposit onto a later cruise.

But I still suspect that this year all will be cancelled or deferred.

 

 

Yes that is what we are hoping/suspect will happen.   This cruise, just before Christmas, was to celebrate our 58th Wedding Anniversary and it has been booked for a very long time.   We do not think it would be much of a celebration with all the restrictions.   😷       The saddest thing is that it would have been our very first Saga cruise.  I suspect that we will never know what a Saga cruise is like.   🙁

[Jay23]

11 minutes ago, saintgeorge said:

Final Payment Date

Has this changed to 60 days prior to departure or is it still 90 days for the Christmas cruise ??

I have not found that 60 day information anywhere except on this site.  I would be interested to know.  We should be paying the final payment (90 days) about now but have heard nothing from our TA about it so we are just sitting tight!   

[Jay23]

18 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Sorry, I don't understand.  If Saga cancel the cruise, surely they have to refund you the deposit? 

Quite right.  But they haven't cancelled the cruise.   Their web site still says that this is the first cruise (16th December) that Discovery is doing after lockdown.   We just want them to get on with cancelling it instead of procrastinating.  

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Jay23 said:

Quite right.  But they haven't cancelled the cruise.   Their web site still says that this is the first cruise (16th December) that Discovery is doing after lockdown.   We just want them to get on with cancelling it instead of procrastinating.  

To be fair, I imagine that Saga, like P&O,  are hoping that some form of cruising might be possible just before Christmas.  Obviously the longer the FCO ban stays in place, the less likely that thus will take place, but there is no benefit to Saga in cancelling prematurely.  

My own thoughts are that if the government guidance is still in place by the beginning of October, then the remainder of the 2020 cruising year can be written off. 

 

[Jay23]

6 minutes ago, wowzz said:

To be fair, I imagine that Saga, like P&O,  are hoping that some form of cruising might be possible just before Christmas.  Obviously the longer the FCO ban stays in place, the less likely that thus will take place, but there is no benefit to Saga in cancelling prematurely.  

My own thoughts are that if the government guidance is still in place by the beginning of October, then the remainder of the 2020 cruising year can be written off. 

 

😆😆😆

[Jay23]

Our TA sent out the "reminder" for final payment for cruise on 16th December.  I think this is a sort of "automatic" letter

On phoning her we had a satisfactory discussion.  The final payment is due 90 days prior to the cruise but (as we all know) TAs ask for payment in advance of that for administration purposes.   She did not seem to have any knowledge of a 60 day final payment but said that Saga do not inform them of changes they make until very close to the new arrangement, even hours before!    She has promised to protect us from a final payment problem with Saga............. ie making us pay the final amount when it is pretty obvious we can't cruise for FCO restriction reasons.  She intimated that many of the TAs clients have similar views on the subject as we do and she is definitely up to speed with it all.    J